It's not totally impossible for coal to still form, but the conditions are far, far less favorable: microbes get everywhere and the woody plants have a lot less lignin now than they used to, which also makes them easier to decompose. So, yeah, we're pretty got what we got.
Interestingly, this has happened once before. There's a "coal gap" from about 250-230 million years ago during which little-to-no coal was formed in most places. I'm not sure if anyone is sure why; this is right at the time of the P-Tr extinction, so a lot was happening. One theory is that the ligninaceous plants went extinct or other conditions were much less conductive to coal formation.
(FYI: Not a paleontologist or anything like--just a scientist who liked dinos as a kid and remembered some keywords!)
Interestingly, this has happened once before. There's a "coal gap" from about 250-230 million years ago during which little-to-no coal was formed in most places. I'm not sure if anyone is sure why; this is right at the time of the P-Tr extinction, so a lot was happening. One theory is that the ligninaceous plants went extinct or other conditions were much less conductive to coal formation.
(FYI: Not a paleontologist or anything like--just a scientist who liked dinos as a kid and remembered some keywords!)