Jharia coal fires may burn hotter, emit more greenhouse gases than thought

Key points

• Fires have burnt beneath the Jharia coal fields in Jharkhand for decades now, releasing smoke and gases through cracks in the ground.
• And according to a new study, parts of this underground fire system may burn hotter and release more greenhouse gases than previously estimated.
• Researchers from the U.K.
• and India, including the CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR), reported in a May 18 paper in Communications Earth & Environment that the collapse structures created when underground fires consume coal seams and destabilise the rock above them can stretch vertically for more than 100 m through the earth, venting hot gases into the air.
• When mining exposes coal to oxygen, natural oxidation reactions can trigger underground fires that smoulder for decades.