Coal Fire (Underground)

Synonyms

Burning coal; Coal combustion; Coal fire; Underground coal fire

Definition

An underground coal fire is defined as the combustion of coal below the Earth’s surface accompanied by heat-energy transfer and the emission of gas, but not necessarily flames and consequently, the emission of light. Although “fire” implies flames, coal burning underground is seldom observed, and peer-reviewed publications about underground burning or even coal burning at the surface (Stracher, 2004, 2007; Stracher et al., 2010, 2012) do not consider flames and light as a necessary criterion when describing coal fires. When a coal fire is not accompanied by flames, the terminology “smoldering” is sometimes used in reference to such fires (Hadden and Rein, 2010).

Discussion

Underground coal fires may occur just beneath, many meters below, or as is commonly the case – at an unknown depth below the Earth’s surface. They may occur in association with active or abandoned coal mines (Figure 1) and also in...