One of India's largest and most productive coal fields is also home to some of the longest-burning fires in the world.
About 70 fires have sprouted up at eastern India's Jharia coal fields, which cover more than 100 square miles and have been mined since the late 1800s. The first recorded coal fired broke out in 1916, and fires have burned there ever since.
It is just one of the thousands of coal fires that are burning around the world — a costly and dangerous phenomenon involving a fuel source that has helped power economic development but is under attack in the age of global warming.
India's government reportedly hopes to increase production at the fiery mine, even as representatives from New Delhi discuss the effects of carbon emissions on climate change at the COP21 summit in Paris. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly charged officials with putting out the fires at Jharia, in the hope of improving output. The government has already spent money to move villages and settlements away from the mines, and those costs are forecast to reach $1 billion, according to Reuters.
Flames at Jharia have been recorded reaching heights of 60 feet.
Many of the fires are believed to have started through spontaneous combustion or what is sometimes called self-heating,caused by the oxidation of minerals in the exposed coal. Much of the mining at Jharia is done at the surface, exposing the coal to open air. Certain varieties of coal contain minerals that heat up when they are exposed to oxygen; those minerals can in turn burst into flames.
More than 37 million tons of coal, worth billions of dollars, have been lost to fires at Jharia, and 1.4 billion more metric tonnes are inaccessible because they are blocked by fires.
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About 70 fires have sprouted up at eastern India's Jharia coal fields, which cover more than 100 square miles and have been mined since the late 1800s. The first recorded coal fired broke out in 1916, and fires have burned there ever since.
It is just one of the thousands of coal fires that are burning around the world — a costly and dangerous phenomenon involving a fuel source that has helped power economic development but is under attack in the age of global warming.
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| A Coal Mine which frequently causes fire |
India's government reportedly hopes to increase production at the fiery mine, even as representatives from New Delhi discuss the effects of carbon emissions on climate change at the COP21 summit in Paris. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly charged officials with putting out the fires at Jharia, in the hope of improving output. The government has already spent money to move villages and settlements away from the mines, and those costs are forecast to reach $1 billion, according to Reuters.
Flames at Jharia have been recorded reaching heights of 60 feet.
Many of the fires are believed to have started through spontaneous combustion or what is sometimes called self-heating,caused by the oxidation of minerals in the exposed coal. Much of the mining at Jharia is done at the surface, exposing the coal to open air. Certain varieties of coal contain minerals that heat up when they are exposed to oxygen; those minerals can in turn burst into flames.
More than 37 million tons of coal, worth billions of dollars, have been lost to fires at Jharia, and 1.4 billion more metric tonnes are inaccessible because they are blocked by fires.
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| Jharia Coal Mines |
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