Scholar-Journalist
‘The Eternal Flames’
By Samar Bhatia
Mother Nature keeps on surprising us with new things everyday, Even 2 ele- ments such as water and fire who are rivals can long together for eternity. In this article I talk about the 9 eternal flames from around the world, These flames have been burning from long and will be burning for long in the future as well. The mentioned flames have been burning due to gases or some accidents or even mythological creatures. The locations for these flames and their definitions are provided below!
- Centralia, Pennsylvania:
Centralia Coal Mines
Centralia, now a ghost town situated in the American state of pennsylvania was once a thriving town but one day in 1962 a flame sparked and the town’s people were evacuated, leaving it as an abandoned mine field.
- Jharia Coal Fields, Jharkhand:
Jharia Coal Mines
Comparing it to the previous location of central where the town was abandoned, the people of jharia still live here without thinking about the dangers of this coal field. The people of this town act as tour guides to those who still wish to visit this place.
- Darvaza Gas Crater, Derweze:
The Door To Hell
This Crater located in Derweze, Turkmenistan is lit by a fire which was sparked in 1970 by some soviet petrochemical engineers when digging this hole it was said to be a crater filled by natural gas. The crater was not big when dug upon digging the ground collapsed and became the crater we know today. The exempts amount of methane gas was poisonous for the people living around, so the scientists decided to burn the hole completely. This backfired and the hole is still burning to this day.
- Chestnut Ridge County Park, New York:
A Flame By A Waterfall
This Flame resides by Archenemy, that is water. This flame burns because of a natural gas deposit that was below the waterfall but as of today the natural gas has es- caped the earth. Th flame may not be completely eternal as it splutters out due to wa- ter falling on it but the tourists visiting the park bring lighters and ignite the flame again.
- Yanartas,Turkey:
The Chimera Fire
Have you ever heard of chimera? It is a Greek mythological creature that breathes fire. This fire which is located in the Olympos Coastal National Park and is said to have originated form the breath of a chimera that lived below the earth. This fire is said to be sparked two and a half millenniums ago.
- Guanziling,Taiwan:
The Hot Spring Flame
Similar To the Waterfall Flames, this fire is near pools of hot springs. The fire itself burns due to enormous amounts of methane gas below. You can even see bub- bles of methane gas emerging in the hot springs itself. The fire is said to be ignited 300 years ago.
- Erta Ale, Ethiopia:
The Lake of Lava
Upon being translated from Ethiopian, the Lake of lava also known as Erta Ale is an ever-burning volcano the locals also call it the smoking mountain. It is located in the afar depression and traveling to it can be difficult. The tours are escorted by military as native rebels can also pose dangers.
- Yanar Dag,Azerbaijan:
The Land Of Fire
Azerbaijan itself is called the as the land of fire and this tourist attraction proves it. Located in the absheron plateau, the fire is caused due to massive eruptions of Natural gas. The fire can shoot up to 3 meters in height.
- Baba Gurgur, Iraq
In Ancient Times, mother’s Who were expecting babies would come to this oil field to pray for baby boys. King Nebuchednazzer came here to sacrifice Hebrews who refused to pray to idols. To this day this field is the largest burning oil field.
As You have seen the locations where the unyielding flames are present, we can make out that, these flames stand for willpower and courage. There are lessons we can learn from nature that help us improve ourselves every day.
