[hoppushoppard]

I like this theory very much!

But there was also thread here on news.ycombinator about a paper which says that this theory is not entirely true.

I can't recall the paper. I think, paper said "the lignin breakdown by fungi" was already invented. The abundance of dead wood (which became coal) is described by existence of wast marshes.

I'm sorry without link is my text not valid very much. Maybe someone could find the paper and link it here.

[oasisbob]

> A widely accepted explanation for this peak in coal production is a temporal lag between the evolution of abundant lignin production in woody plants and the subsequent evolution of lignin-degrading Agaricomycetes fungi, resulting in a period when vast amounts of lignin-rich plant material accumulated. Here, we reject this evolutionary lag hypothesis, based on assessment of phylogenomic, geochemical, paleontological, and stratigraphic evidence.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1517943113#:~:text=The...

[culi]

Very interesting, thanks so much for the link!