It was not until 1829 that a geologist identified it as a coal seam fire.
In India, more than seventy individual fires are burning beneath a region of theJharia coalfieldin Jharkhand.
Underground coal-seam fires are the most persistent fires on Earth and can burn for thousands of years.
Some coals ignite spontaneously at temperatures as low as 40 C. Once fire gets hold, temperatures climb rapidly.
The permeability of the coal allows oxygen to reach the fire but poor ventilation traps the heat inside.
Some coal fires exceed temperatures of 500 C.
The soil is scarred red by the heat.
Photo credit:Margaret Donald/Flickr
Coal fires are very difficult to extinguish.
Its like a frustrating, expensive version of whack-a-mole, writesDan Cray for Time.
Many governments have completely given up on the effort.
One of the most visible changes coal seam fires make is upon the landscape and on the environment.
The heat has turned the soil red.
Unlike Pennsylvanias Centralia, Burning Mountain is actually pretty safe for tourists.
Photo credit:Chris/Flickr
The summit of Burning Mountain.
