The fossil fuel such as coal is formed from the remains of dead vegetation. Earth had dense forests in low lying wetland areas about 300 million years ago. Due to natural processes, like flooding, these forests got buried under the soil. Due to soil deposition over these dead plants, they were compressed. The temperature also increased as they sank deeper and deeper. Under high pressure and high temperature, dead plants got slowly converted to coal. As coal contains mainly carbon, the slow process of conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbonisation. Since it was formed from the remains of vegetation, coal is also called a fossil fuel.

The fossil fuel such as petroleum is formed from the dead animals under the sea. As these organisms died, their bodies settled at the bottom of the sea. They got covered with layers of sand and clay. Over millions of years, in the absence of air, with high temperature and high pressure, these the dead organisms were transformed into petroleum and natural gas.