Uncovering the underground fire 5,500 years without pause

Wingen Mountain in Australia is nurturing a non-stop 5,500-year-old underground fire.

>>>The eternal flames in the world

Recently, after many studies and statistics on a global scale, geologists have made the claim about the " longest " fire in the world. It was a smoldering underground fire in Australia for 5,500 years.

The upper underground fire is "nourished" at Mount Wingen (in Aboriginal language meaning fire), 224km north of Sydney. Here, down to about 27 meters below the surface of Mount Wingen, the scientists discovered a layer of fossilized coal seams with large reserves. It is this coal mine that has been cultivating a smoldering underground fire for thousands of years!

According to geologists, the underground fire like this does not burn into a large crowd but only accumulates for a long time, like burning a wood stove. They will flare up when there is an impact of nature (thunder) or people intentionally set fire on. In fact, there are a lot of underground fire in the world like Wingen Mountain, but the lifespan of thousands of years but not off is only here.

Coal smoke rises from the smoldering fire in the ground

In the course of history, it is true that this fire was discovered long ago, from 1828. However, at that time, Australian nomads thought Wingen was just an ordinary volcano. Even from ancient times, ancestors of humans have also come here to make labor tools, cooking by the heat radiating from the ravines.

Nowadays, more and more tourists pull to this mountain to visit and admire the longest fire on the planet. The Australian Traveler describes the scene here as follows: "The surrounding air smells of burnt sulfur. You can feel the great heat from the fire in the underground. If you look at the flying eagle around the pale gray smoke rising up, you will feel like you are standing in the middle of nature when the Earth is new. "

The vegetation and untouched, untouched life around the fire area

However, according to Atlas Obscura website, this mountain also has negative effects: "The heat has a terrible impact on plants in the surrounding area. Places that have been burned by fire are only left with stones. barren, and without any sign of any creature here. "

The New York Times environmental reporter Andrew Revkin concurred. According to him, these smoldering fires are very harmful to the environment when emitting billions of tons of CO ₂ annually, becoming a major cause of greenhouse effect.