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Coal deposits are mostly in sparsely-populated areas. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-geographic-distribution-of-population-centers-and-coal-reserves-an

by yorwba 4y ago

Coal deposits are mostly in sparsely-populated areas. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-geographic-distribution-of-population-centers-and-coal-reserves-and-the-level-of_fig1_243968885 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-geographic-distribut... People in the coal-rich, tree-poor northern steppe did mine coal, but getting it to densely-populated areas would've been expensive.

towaway15463 4y ago
That map and this one https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Distribution-of-coal-deposits-in-China-Source-IEA-Clean-Coal-Center-Coal-Online_fig10_228838239 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Distribution-of-coal-dep... seem to show a lot of centrally located deposits along with several near the coast. Most coal deposits in England are in the north so they did have to transport it. I realize England is much smaller but it looks to me like China has a lot more coal spread over a wider area. I imagine wood fuel would also need to be transported a long distance after forests near major population centres had been depleted so I don’t think the transportation cost argument holds up.