*.*
News7News 7
HomeScience and NatureThe science of how eternal flames can naturally burn forever

The science of how eternal flames can naturally burn forever

by News7

In New York state, a small fire glimmers behind a waterfall. It’s a natural phenomenon that has captured imaginations for thousands of years: the eternal flame.

These continuously burning flames are found around the world. 

Caused by gas spilling up from deep underground reservoirs, some have been burning for millennia and may have inspired Biblical tales. But what are they and how do they continue burning for so long?

Here’s everything you need to know about these continuously burning fires. 

What is an eternal flame?“Eternal flames can be considered a special case of seep,” says Giuseppe Etiope, a geologist at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome, Italy.

Seepage happens when natural flammable gas underground—mostly methane, ethane, and propane—travels to the surface from pressurized reservoirs through fractures or holes in the rock.

In special conditions, when the gas reaching the surface has a high enough concentration of methane, it “can burn autonomously,” says Etiope. “They are like a flag that says, ‘here is an intense emission’.”

Fueled by a continuous emission of gas, some flames can burn for thousands of years. “And from this, the word eternal flame,” he says.

This eternal flame is tucked into a cove under a 32-foot waterfall in Chestnut Ridge County Park, New York State. Splashing water can extinguish these flames—but they can often re-burn autonomously.

Photograph by Jason Ondreicka, Alamy Stock Photo

A rare natural phenomenonThese rare fires—Etiope estimates there are “probably less than 50” globally—are usually found near petroleum fields. They have been seen in countries including the U.S., Romania, Italy, Turkey, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Taiwan, China, India, and Australia.

 Some “may have developed thousands, tens of thousands, or even a million years ago,” says Etiope.

One famous fire under a 32-foot waterfall in Chestnut Ridge County Park in New York State is famous for its beauty. Its flame can be around three to eight inches high, depending on the weather and the seasons.

“It shines from behind the veil of cascading water,” says Arndt Schimmelmann, a senior earth scientist at Indiana University, in an email. He recalls Etiope—who he describes as the world expert on natural gas seepages—saying that this is the most beautiful natural “eternal flame” he has ever seen.

Religious and cultural significanceThese mystifying flames feature in many mythologies and ancient history.

In Azerbaijan, a flame burning on a hillside near Baku—its name ‘Yanardag’ means burning mountain—was considered sacred in the Zoroastrian religion, which believed fire was a representation of the divine.

Chimaera in Turkey’s Antalya Gulf—once called ancient Lycia—is named after the fire-breathing monster from Greek mythology. Close to a temple of Hephaestus, the Greek blacksmith god of fire, it may be where the Olympic flame was first lit. 

Mentioned by Pliny the Elder in Historia Naturalis, written around 77 B.C.E., it is at least 2,000 years old.

Baba Gurgur, Iraq, is a huge crater with a flame burning in the center. Some believe this the “burning fiery furnace” that King Nebuchadnezzar threw three Jews into in the Old Testament.

Its presence during Biblical times would mean it has been theoretically burning for 4,000 years.

The fires of Yanartas at night in Antalya, Turkey. These small fires burn constantly from vents in the rocks on the side of the mountain. The area is located on a track popular with hikers and trekkers on the Lycian Way.

Photograph by I. Gercelman, picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

Children are silhouetted against the evening sky while a permanent fire rages underground, fueled by coal seams and seemingly impossible to extinguish in Jharia, India. The ground temperature is sometimes too hot to walk on, and methane and sulphur escape through cracks, polluting the surrounding air.

Photograph by Chris Stowers, Panos Pictures/Redux

Extinguishing an eternal flameAlthough some of these fires have burned for millennia, eternal flames can be extinguished.

“The expression “eternal flame” is misleading because geology tells us that nothing is eternal on Earth,” says Schimmelmann.

Some fires might be put out by rainfall but, depending on the intensity of the gas seep and the ground conditions, “they can re-burn autonomously,” says Etiope.

In Chestnut Ridge, splashing water into the cove can quench the fire. “I did that a few times myself when I was about to sample the gas for geochemical analyses,” says Schimmelmann. “It is always a challenge to re-ignite the flame without being doused by the gushing water of the waterfall.”

He notes that he always successfully re-ignited the flame before leaving.

Eventually, this flame will be lost to natural erosion as the waterfall recedes. Losing the shelter of its cove “will cause the flame to go out on a regular basis, although the flow of gas may continue,” he says.

Environmental impactGeological hydrocarbon seeps—including eternal flames—are natural sources of greenhouse gasses, like methane, and photochemical pollutants such as ethane and propane. 

The Chestnut Ridge flame releases about one kilogram of methane each day.

There are so few eternal flames that the environmental impact is negligible compared to the thousands of gas seeps globally. The emissions of both “are minuscule compared to industrial emissions,” says Schimmelmann.

Drilling for gas could “kill” nearby eternal flames by lowering the pressure of the gas reservoir that fuels them.

Chestnut Ridge’s eternal flame is “a rare relic,” he says, “that exists today only because no drilling has so far occurred in that particular region.”

Source : National Geographic

You may also like

12345678..........................%%%...*...........................................$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$--------------------.....