The mystery of the fire that has been burning for 6000 years until now – LLODO

In a national park about a four-hour drive from Sydney, Australia, there’s a fire that’s smoldering out of control and it’s been like that for at least 6000 years.

Called “Burning Mountain” park, this mysterious underground fire is the oldest known fire on our planet. Some scientists even predict it could be much more ancient than we thought.

Located under Mount Wingen in the state of New South Wales (Wingen means ‘fire’ in the native Wanaruah language), this smoldering underground fire is a coal seam fire.

Once ignited, these underground fires are nearly impossible to put out. Slowly but vigorously, they move through the coal seam, a layer of coal that exists naturally beneath the Earth’s surface.

Guillermo Rein, professor of fire science at Imperial College London, UK, says:No one knows the scale of the fire under Burning Mountain, which can only be inferred. It can be shaped like a ball with a diameter of about 5 to 10 meters and reaches a temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius.”

Unlike typical fires, coal seam fires occur underground, it’s smoldering, meaning there’s no flame and it’s like the embers at a barbecue. It is also different from the more aggressive coal seam gas fires, which can set the entire surface of the water ablaze.

The fire at Mount Wingen is currently burning about 30 meters underground and is moving south at a rate of about 1 meter per year. You cannot see it with your own eyes, but if you have a chance to go to Mount Wingen, you will see evidence of its existence as smoke, white ground, warm to the touch, rocks changing to yellow and red, smell The sulfur is released as the flames below burn the minerals of the mountain. You can observe the path the fire takes when it is covered with ash and devoid of plant life.

Rein says: “Before the fire spreads, you will see a beautiful eucalyptus forest. Where the fire went through there was absolutely nothing alive, not even grass. And where the fire was 20 to 30 years ago, the area the forest is back, but it’s a different forest – the fire has shaped the landscape.”

Many coal seam fires, especially in India, China and the US, are caused by human intervention such as coal mining. An infamous fire is below Centralia, Pennsylvania, the desolate town that inspired Silent Hill, which has been burning for nearly 60 years. But that’s just a blink compared to Burning Mountain that has burned for thousands of years.

The interesting thing is that no one is sure what caused it. The first time this phenomenon was recorded was in 1828, when a local farmer claimed to have discovered a volcano in the Wingen mountains.

Just a year later, in 1829, geologist Reverend CPN Wilton concluded the volcano was in fact a coal seam fire. Since then, measurements have shown the fire has moved about 6.5 kilometers, geologists estimate it has been burning for at least 6,000 years. It has moved 150 meters since 1828.

But not much research has been done on this land, as it is considered sacred by the Wanaruahs. Wanaruah mythology says that the tears of a widow ignited the fire, there is also a story that it was the flame from the torch of a warrior captured by the devil at the foot of the mountain.

According to Rein, natural causes are most likely. He explained: “Human intervention cannot be ruled out, but it is most likely a natural cause. It is possible that lightning caused fires and forest fires in ancient times. Or it could be due to self-combustion happening underground.”

Self-combustion occurs when the coal seam is close enough to the surface for the coal to come into contact with oxygen. If there are enough consecutive hot and sunny days, the surface of the coals heats up, eventually emitting a fire. Studies show that the self-ignition point of coal can range from as little as 35 to 140 degrees Celsius.

We probably don’t know exactly how old the flame is either. Ren said: “It’s not just 6,000 years old… but at least 6,000 years old. It could actually be hundreds of thousands of years old.”

How long will Mount Wingen burn? No one really knows it; we don’t know how far the coal seam stretches. Currently, it does not lack an oxygen supply. It can burn for thousands of years without human intervention.

As the fire spread, the heat caused the mountain to crack open, allowing oxygen in so the fire could move forward. Even with human intervention, coal seam fires are difficult to extinguish, requiring tons of water and liquid nitrogen. In 2004, China claimed to have extinguished the fire that had burned for 50 years, but a few years later, tourists saw signs of it still burning.

If you have the opportunity to come to Australia, try to visit this reserve and witness the traces of the fire with your own eyes.

Reference: ScienceAlert