The Eternal Flame Falls in Chestnut Ridge Park
One of the amazing natural phenomena is an eternal flame. The eternal flame burns all the time including when it rains because it is powered by natural gas. Recently, Arndt Schimmelmann, a researcher from Indiana University in Bloomington revealed the mystery of one of the world's most amazing eternal flame in western New York, precisely Chestnut Ridge Park. Typically, eternal fire is powered by a gas that formed from ancient rocks in the Earth with high temperatures until the carbon molecules in it turn into gas.
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| Eternal Flame Falls |
However, the eternal flame in New York is different. Schimmelmann revealed that the eternal flame in New York was powered by a gas produced by rocks whose temperature was much lower, just equivalent to a cup of tea. The difference in the temperature of the rocks that form the gas indicates that the gas is produced by a different process. Schimmelmann said that gas formation involved catalysts that accelerated the conversion of organic molecules in rocks to gases.
"We think that there are different gas formation mechanisms in this location and this may also be found in other locations. If this is true, then the gas can be produced naturally in other regions,” Schimmelmann said. Schimmelmann revealed the mystery of this eternal fire with his colleague, Maria Mastalerz of the Indiana Geological Survey, and Giuseppe Etiope, a researcher from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy.
The research not only reveals the mystery of eternal flame in the Chestnut Ridge Park but also measures the amount of methane that is naturally formed and sips out. It was revealed that 30 percent of methane was formed in the process. The result of the research was published in the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology in May 2013. With the different forming processes, the eternal flame falls in the New York so far become the most unique eternal flame in the world.