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A coal-seam fire is a burning of an outcrop or underground coal seam. Most coal-seam fires exhibit smouldering combustion,[1] particularly underground coal-seam fires, because of limited atmospheric oxygen availability. Coal-seam fire instances on Earth date back several million years.[2][3] Due to thermal insulation and the avoidance of rain/snow extinguishment by the crust, underground coal-seam fires are the most persistent fires on Earth and can burn for thousands of years, like Burning Mountain in Australia.[4] Coal-seam fires can be ignited by self-heating of low-temperature oxidation, lightning, wildfires and even arson. Coal-seam fires have been slowly shaping the lithosphere and changing atmosphere, but this pace has become faster and more extensive in modern times, triggered by mining.[5]
Coal fires are a serious health and safety hazard, affecting the environment by releasing toxic fumes; reigniting grass, brush, or forest fires; and causing subsidence of surface infrastructure such as roads, railways, pipelines, electric lines, bridge supports, buildings, and homes. Whether started by humans or by natural causes, coal-seam fires continue to burn for decades, centuries, or even millennia, until one of the following occurs: either the fuel source is exhausted, a permanent groundwater table is encountered, the depth of the burn becomes greater than the ground's capacity to subside and vent, or humans intervene. Because they burn underground, coal-seam fires are extremely difficult and costly to extinguish, and are unlikely to be suppressed by rainfall.[6] There are strong similarities between coal fires and peat fires.
Across the world, thousands of underground coal fires are burning.[7] The problem is most acute in industrializing, coal-rich nations such as China.[5] Global coal fire emissions are estimated to cause 40 tons of mercury to enter the atmosphere annually, and to represent three percent of the world's annual CO2 emissions.[8]
- ^ Rein, G. (2013). "Smouldering Fires and Natural Fuels". In Belcher, C. M.; et al. (eds.). Fire Phenomena and the Earth System: An Interdisciplinary Guide to Fire Science. Wiley and Sons. pp. 15–34.
- ^ Heffern, E. L. & Coates, D. A. (2004). "Geologic history of natural coal-bed fires, Powder River basin, USA". International Journal of Coal Geology. 59 (1–2): 25–47. Bibcode:2004IJCG...59...25H. doi:10.1016/j.coal.2003.07.002.
- ^ Zhang, X.; Kroonenberg, S. B. & De Boer, C. B. (2004). "Dating of coal fires in Xinjiang, north-west China". Terra Nova. 16 (2): 68–74. Bibcode:2004TeNov..16...68Z. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3121.2004.00532.x. S2CID 59475840.
- ^ Ellyett, C. D. & Fleming, A. W. (1974). "Thermal infrared imagery of the Burning Mountain coal fire". Remote Sensing of Environment. 3 (1): 79–86. Bibcode:1974RSEnv...3...79E. doi:10.1016/0034-4257(74)90040-6.
- ^ a b Song, Z. & Kuenzer, C. (2014). "Coal fires in China over the last decade: A comprehensive review". International Journal of Coal Geology. 133: 72–99. Bibcode:2014IJCG..133...72S. doi:10.1016/j.coal.2014.09.004.
- ^ Whitehouse, Alfred & Mulyana, Asep A. S. (2004). "Coal Fires in Indonesia". International Journal of Coal Geology. 2012 (1–2). Amsterdam: Elsevier: 91–97 [p. 95]. Bibcode:2004IJCG...59...91W. doi:10.1016/j.coal.2003.08.010. ISSN 0166-5162.
- ^ Plester, Jeremy (21 April 2022). "Uncontrolled coal-seam fires are catastrophic polluters". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
- ^ Cray, Dan (23 July 2010). "Deep Underground, Miles of Hidden Wildfires Rage". Time. Archived from the original on 28 July 2010.