01-27-2009, 07:38 PM
Hello Everyone, ![[Image: smiley-faces-80.gif]](http://www.feebleminds-gifs.com/smiley-faces-80.gif)
Tom and I had an adventure for sure. Couple things that really stand out for me was the smell by the steam vents. The sulfur is a grotesque mix of rotten eggs and dead frogs in a drying peat bog. Nasty. This is a wicked mixture that noone should sniff for very long:
http://www.offroaders.com/album/centrali...1Paper.htm
Second was the lack of living creatures anywhere. Except three homes and a couple birds, there is little sign of life within a 5 miles radius. Eerie silence indeed. :o
As for the underground fire, I found it fascinating.
The oldest known coal fire is Burning Mountain in Australia which scientist figure has been burning for over 5,000 years. Coal seam fires are very common, but because they are underground, they are difficult to detect and monitor. New technology has allowed better detection and observation. Indonesia has had over 250,000 seam fires since 1998. Coal is one of a few substances which can spontaneously ignite when exposure to oxygen causes it to react and heat up when there is insufficient ventilation for cooling. Once started, they simply go on until their vein fuel runs out or they jump to a new vein and they simply go on and on and on....... There is more than ample fuel along the vein seams in Centralia and neighboring Ashland to maintain this fire for more than a couple centuries. 400 acres of Centralia sit on or by coal seams. Plenty of fuel.
I have always been a self-proclaimed rock collector and Earth science nerd, as well as dipping my mind into a wide array of other mind bending intellectual hobbies.
So now that I posted a Hemmingway novel as my first post, I should mosey on over and look at some kit bashing and "weathering" threads.
Jenn
(aka Tom's Better Half
)
Tom and I had an adventure for sure. Couple things that really stand out for me was the smell by the steam vents. The sulfur is a grotesque mix of rotten eggs and dead frogs in a drying peat bog. Nasty. This is a wicked mixture that noone should sniff for very long:
http://www.offroaders.com/album/centrali...1Paper.htm
Second was the lack of living creatures anywhere. Except three homes and a couple birds, there is little sign of life within a 5 miles radius. Eerie silence indeed. :o
As for the underground fire, I found it fascinating.
The oldest known coal fire is Burning Mountain in Australia which scientist figure has been burning for over 5,000 years. Coal seam fires are very common, but because they are underground, they are difficult to detect and monitor. New technology has allowed better detection and observation. Indonesia has had over 250,000 seam fires since 1998. Coal is one of a few substances which can spontaneously ignite when exposure to oxygen causes it to react and heat up when there is insufficient ventilation for cooling. Once started, they simply go on until their vein fuel runs out or they jump to a new vein and they simply go on and on and on....... There is more than ample fuel along the vein seams in Centralia and neighboring Ashland to maintain this fire for more than a couple centuries. 400 acres of Centralia sit on or by coal seams. Plenty of fuel.I have always been a self-proclaimed rock collector and Earth science nerd, as well as dipping my mind into a wide array of other mind bending intellectual hobbies.
So now that I posted a Hemmingway novel as my first post, I should mosey on over and look at some kit bashing and "weathering" threads.
Jenn
(aka Tom's Better Half
)
Jennifer