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milo159 t1_jd3a31z wrote

Reply to comment by crispy1978 in TIL A coal seam in Australia is believed to have been burning for 6,000 years, making it the oldest coal fire. The site's name is Mount Wingen but is commonly called Burning Mountain and the fire is traveling south 1m per year discoloring the ground as it goes. by jamescookenotthatone

Because putting out a fire that rages through a million tiny cracks in the ground requires that you find ALL of those tiny cracks. This is not something science has an answer to yet.

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GDMFusername t1_jd3eb4u wrote

Ok I got it, fracking but with... Foam.
1 Government contract pls.

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milo159 t1_jd3exlw wrote

Foam? Why not seawater? No shortage of salt water any time soon.

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BoxingSoup t1_jd3scze wrote

Because salting the earth is almost as bad as a low, slow fire

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zachzsg t1_jd4f7ak wrote

That’s why you get a contract to get rid of the salt water you used to get rid of the fire

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feor1300 t1_jd5tda2 wrote

It's Australia, when they're done they can just tow the saltwater out of the environment.

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milo159 t1_jd3spka wrote

Oh yeah, i forgot about that. Well eityer way fracking wouldn't work because it covers too small an area.

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milo159 t1_jd3g16m wrote

Also fracking is pretty short-ranged as i understand it, damn inverse square law. If it were that small we could just comb the whole thing with enough people, the problem is that its a lot bigger than that.

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DeNir8 t1_jd3dgkf wrote

It could be excavated in advance? Travels at 1m/year. Begin 50 meters down the road..

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milo159 t1_jd3e3vv wrote

Its a vein of coal in the earth, its not gonna expand beyond the bounds of the coal, its just that short of excavating the ENTIRE thing theres no way to make it stop, and making a pit that big costs a lot of money. That much funding would frankly do more good elsewhere.

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DeNir8 t1_jd3potx wrote

Coal is being dug in mines for profit all over. How deep is this burn? It has air. It scorches the earth..

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milo159 t1_jd3r40y wrote

I imagine it would also be incredibly dangerous to even attempt, you're exposing coal thats been burning off of a tiny stream of o2 for ages, to a ton of air all at once.

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DeNir8 t1_jd40pv3 wrote

True. But then there is no coal. Removing the fuel would make it stop burning.

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maartenvanheek t1_jd3yfer wrote

Coal being dug for profit depends on many things. Ease of access, both in the mining sense (how easy is it to dig a mine, and how safe is the soil around it to prevent subsidence) and the distance to where it is needed. In a remote area, transportation costs might soon exceed mining profits even if it's high grade coal.

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DeNir8 t1_jd413av wrote

Tbt. I imagine someone would have done it if there was profit to be made. It may drive a sick kind of tourism? I donno. But stopped it can be. Probably not worth it.

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