Underground fires in Australia have been going on for 6,000 years and are not volcanic; Understand

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– No one knows the size of the fire beneath the ‘burning mountain’, it can only be estimated. It is probably a ball 5 to 10 meters in diameter, whose temperature reaches 1,000 degrees Celsius – Guillermo Rein of University College London explained for ‘ScienceAlert’.

Located in New South Wales, Australia, the aborigines named it Wingan, because it means fire in the language of the local Wonnarua people. According to Australian media, the first explorers in the 18th century believed it was a volcano.

According to ‘The Travel’, the Mount Wengen fire is believed to be about 30 meters deep and burning 235-year-old coal, as well as moving south at a speed of about one meter per year. As far as the origin of the fire is concerned, experts theorize an old forest fire or a lightning strike.

– Maybe it was sulfur, as it is known that sulfur is capable of spontaneous combustion – he explains.

The age of the ‘burning mountain’ is estimated by measuring the path of the fire, which spans about 6.5 kilometres, and the speed at which it burns, IFLScience reported. Scientists have estimated its age to be between 15,000 and 6,000 years.

What is the origin of fire?

There is still no official explanation about the origin of the fire in the ‘burning mountain’. However, most experts are certain that humans did not start it.

ScienceAlert indicated that the first documented European evidence was in 1828, when a local man said he discovered a volcano in the Mount Wingen area. A year later, in 1829, geologist Reverend CPN Wilton concluded that it was actually a coal stockpile fire.

“The place is considered sacred by the traditional custodians, the Wanarua people, who used it for cooking and making weapons. Their native stories tell of a widow whose tears lit a fire, or a warrior’s torch. Which was captured by ‘evil’ below the mountain”, explained the special scientific portal.

In addition to the indigenous community’s theories, Guillermo Rein noted that the most likely source of fire is nature.

— Human intervention cannot be ruled out, but natural causes are more likely. It may have been a fire caused by lightning in the forest, which caused the crop to catch fire. Or it could have been self-heating ignition,” he said.

The specialized scientific portal reported that spontaneous thermal ignition occurs when the coal layer is close enough to the surface and is in contact with oxygen.

“If there are enough hot, sunny days, something we will see more with climate change, the surface of the coal becomes hot enough to ignite the next piece in the seam, which eventually causes a fire.” Is,” he concluded. One of the possible reasons for this.

‘ScienceAlert’ said that no one knows the answer to how long this mountain will continue to burn. Studies on this topic are rare and have not been subject to peer review. At present they have adequate oxygen supply.