Coal ball | Significance, Facts, Definition | Britannica
coal ball, a lump of petrified plant matter, frequently spheroid, found in coal seams of the Upper Carboniferous Period (from 325,000,000 to 280,000,000 years ago). Coal balls are important sources of fossil information relating to the forests preceding the Coal Age. As a result of a variety of conditions, small pockets of plant debris in Carboniferous swamps, infiltrated by mineral salts ...