Australia: Underground fire ignited 6,000 years ago might burn for thousand more years

A mysterious fire, that is said to have ignited six millennia ago, is still burning under Mount Wingen in Australia's New South Wales. The fire in the location, which is also called the 'burning mountain', reportedly ignited 6,000 years ago and surprisingly, some scientists estimate it to be even older. In an interview with Science Alert, Guillermo Rein, a professor of fire science at the UK's Imperial College London said,

No one knows the size of the fire under Burning Mountain, you can only infer it. It's likely a ball of around 5 to 10 meters in diameter, reaching temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius.

A fire burning with no flame

This case of Mount Wingen is reported of a subterranean fire that burns over the coal seam, a naturally occurring layer of coal beneath the surface and unlike a typical fire, they are nearly impossible to put out. Rein, who had visited the site in 2014, revealed that the fire is actually burning around 30 meters beneath the surface and is smouldering without any flames. Surprisingly, he said there is a stretch of coal seam underground, it is actually allowing the fire to move south at a rate of 1 metre every year. And since there is no flame, the only proof of the fire is warm ground, discoloured rocks, emission of gases along traces of smoke and ash.

What caused the 6,000-year-old fire?

While no one accurately knows the cause of the fire, Rein finds natural causes the most compelling. "You cannot rule out anthropogenic interference, but it was most likely natural causes. It could have been wildfire from a lighting strike that ignited an outcrop. Or it could have been self-heating ignition", Rein told Science Alert.

The first documented evidence of the fire's discovery dates back to 1828. Initially, the fire was believed to be a volcano which was later clarified as a coal seam fire by geologist Reverend CPN Wilton a year later. Interestingly, this fire holds a special significance and is considered sacred by the Wanaruah people who reportedly cooked their food and made weapons out of the fire. According to Rein, the fire is at least 6,000 years old and might be burning for hundreds of thousands of years. Surprisingly, he said that the fire could even burn for thousands of years in the future given humans do not interfere with it.

Image: Twitter/@StephanieSermon