River on fire in Jharkhand State of India.

Fire is also coming out through hand-pumps.

By

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

The haunting inscription that marks the gates of hell in Dante’s Inferno could well be true for coalfields located in Jharkhand in Eastern India. For, the underground fires that have been raging in the coalfields of these areas over several decades are now beginning to engulf its thickly inhabited areas as well.

Earlier it was Jharia town now the new areas are under threat. Recently two major incidents took place near Bokaro and Dhanbad town where underground fire erupted on the surface. One was through hand-pump and other was in middle of a local river near Dhanbad.

Jharkhand has been the home to some bizarre happenings in the recent days. The most freaky and interesting in recent days is the Katri River water which has been bubbling with fire, literally!

Panic gripped in Katras area near Dhanbad when fire erupted in middle of the Katri river. It was first case of such eruption in river. Some local kids spotted fire arising from within the water and boiling it from under causing violent ripples in the place. The fire was only just over a foot tall and hence was not dangerous yet. Alarmed adults reached the spot.

It is all due to either underground mine fire which is now slowly engulfing the entire area or due to Coal Bed Methane gas (CBM) which is gushing out on the surface in many pockets of the affected areas. Entire area is rich in CBM gas.

Methane (CH₄) is a gas formed as part of the process of coal formation – coalification. When coal is mined methane is released from the coal seam and the surrounding disturbed rock strata. Methane can also be released as a result of natural erosion or faulting or due to deep boring to trap groundwater or mine blasting. In Bokaro and Dhanbad area deep borings are going on recklessly for groundwater exploitation. These has resulted rock fractures helping methane gas trapped beneath to escape to the atmosphere through such fractures and resulting in surface fire.

Methane is highly combustible – its release can have serious implications for the safety of mine operations. It is also a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) – 23 times more harmful than carbon dioxide (CO2).

Methane is released during the process of extracting coal in both surface and underground mining. The released methane then mixes with air, which becomes highly explosive if methane concentration levels reach 5-15%. Methane explosions are devastating, causing significant loss of life and damage to property.

Such is the intensity of the fires that even a mid-summer sun pales in the smoky haze that they generate. After dusk, the flames take on morbid hues. “Total area including Jharia town resembles a cremation ground at night”. 

Causes of Coal Fires:

Coal fires are a natural occurrence and as widespread as forest fires. Besides the blaze in Jharkhand’s coalfield areas, the coal fire of Indonesia is regarded as the wildest on the earth.

An organic and highly carbonaceous material, coal-when exposed to moisture and oxygen- tends to catch fire immediately. Coal absorbs oxygen at all temperatures with slight rise in temperature. If ventilation is not adequate to take away the heat thus formed, more oxygen will be absorbed, and more will be the rise in temperature. This process continues till it catches fire. Reaction rate is doubled for every 10 degree rise in temperature. This phenomenon of spontaneous combustion is the main natural cause of coal fires. Lightning, forest fires or frictional heat generated during churning inside the Earth’s crust can also ignite coal fires. Regarding Jharkahd research says that no single reason can be attributed to the fire. Coals of the this area are not very prone to auto-oxidation. 

Fresh photographs of Jharia mine fire.

Fresh photographs of Jharia mine fire in Jharkhand State of India.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Fig. Jharia resembles a cremation ground at night.

Fig: smoke coming out in main town

Fig. Cavities being formed on the surface of the Jharia town

The haunting inscription that marks the gates of hell in Dante’s Inferno could well be true for Jharia, located in Jharkhand in India. For, the underground fires that have been raging in the coalfields of this town over several decades are now beginning to engulf its thickly inhabited areas as well.
Such is the intensity of the fires that even a mid-summer sun pales in the smoky haze that they generate. After dusk, the flames take on morbid hues. “Jharia resembles a cremation ground at night”.
The fires have consumed about 42 million tones of India’s best coking coal.
There appears to be no permanent solution in sight. The only opinion seems to be cut out trenches to disconnect fire seams which have been identified. But this would require a huge investment. But the extent to which has flared up in Jharia makes dousing it an uphill task-particularly when all the prevailing conditions further fan the fire.
The only solution which is now seen is the “shifting of town”. This means that the relocation would affect the nearly 0.3 million population of Jharia, approximately 0.1 million houses and other buildings and prospering economy.

A coal seam fire or mine fire is the underground smouldering of a coal deposit, often in a coal mine. Such fires have economic, social and ecological impacts. They are often started by lightning, grass, or forest fires, and are particularly insidious because they continue to smoulder underground after surface fires have been extinguished, sometimes for many years, before flaring up and restarting forest and brush fires nearby. They propagate in a creeping fashion along mine shafts and cracks in geologic structures.
Coal fires are a serious problem because hazards to health and safety and the environment include toxic fumes, reigniting grass, brush, or forest fires, and subsidence of surface infrastructure such as roads, pipelines, electric lines, bridge supports, buildings and homes. Whether started by humans or by natural causes, coal seam fires continue to burn for decades or even centuries until either the fuel source is exhausted; a permanent groundwater table is encountered; the depth of the burn becomes greater than the ground’s capacity to subside and vent; or humans intervene. Because they burn underground, coal seam fires are extremely difficult and costly to extinguish, and are unlikely to be suppressed by rainfall.

Smoke of medicinal plants can kill harmful bacteria.

Smoke of medicinal plants can kill harmful bacteria.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Today the air we breathe in is loaded with harmful gases like NO2, CO, SPM and RSPM, which are all above the standards prescribed by the Government and are extremely harmful for human health. There are also new species of bacteria and virus coming up which cause new diseases and are resistant to old drugs. The wastes from the industries as well as the city is being dumped into the rivers, thereby causing severe water pollution. The indiscriminate use of pesticides and synthetic chemical fertilizers has resulted in poisoning of underground water reserves and also resulted into loss of soil fertility. And to top it all the lack of empathy of the people to these problems has made it worse.

All the new scientific methods or chemicals being used today to kill bacteria have the side effects on environment and human health. Best example is the use of DDT, one of the best known synthetic pesticides. DDT has now been declared toxic for humans and environment. Even chlorination of water has the side effects if used regularly and in large amounts. Liquids used in mosquito repellent are also harmful to human health to some extent.

With the development of the modern science we are getting more dependent on synthetic chemicals to kill bacteria or remove pollution other than the use of natural sources like medicinal plants or energy like Sun. In our ancient days people used the natural sources to fight the bacteria and pollution.


From time immemorial, human beings have used smoke of medicinal plants for curing disorders. Smoke produced from natural substances has been used extensively in many cultures and famous ancient physicians have described and recommended such use. According to old concept in Hinduism the basis of life has been said to be food. The basis of food is earth. The basis of earth is water and the basis of water is air. If air will be pure, all elements of the chain will become pure, thus purifying and cleansing life itself. For the environmental problem, the Hidus in the earlier days used the vedic science of ‘Yagya’ or ‘Havan’.
Havan is the term for a sacred purifying ritual (yajna) in Hinduism that involves a fire ceremony. It is a ritual of sacrifice made to the fire god Agni. After lighting a Havan Kund (sacrificial fire), objects such as fruits, honey, or wooden goods are put into the sacred fire. The main purpose of a Havan is for the purification of our surroundings. It is a person’s duty to thank Nature for balancing our surroundings and making them fit for human existence.
According to a report published in a web site, a scientist named Trelle of France did experiments on Havan. He found that Havan is mainly performed by using mango tree. When the wood is burnt then a gas, "formic aldehyde" comes out which destroys the harmful bacteria and makes the atmosphere purified. Then only, the scientists made "formalin" from "formic aldehyde" gas. He also did experiment on jaggery Gur (in Hindi raw sugar) and found that on burning the jaggery, jaggery also generates "formic aldehyde" gas. A scientist named Tautilk came to know that if we stay in a Havan and its smoke for half an hour then the germs of typhoid are destroyed and all these matters are used in Yajyen. Yajurveda says that four types of things mainly used to prepare offerings for a Havan- 1. Sweet Like honey, jaggery, raw sugar etc., 2. Antibiotic herbs like gyol, etc., 3. Nutrition like pure ghee, dry fruits etc., 4. Fragrant materials like elaichi (cardamom) dried petals flowers etc.

Seeing the importance of Havan scientists of the National Botanical Research Institute in Lucknow, India decided to test whether havan smoke affected indoor air quality. They burned havan samagri —the mixture of aromatic medicinal herbs typically prescribed for Hindu rituals in a closed room. They found smoke from the material did kill germs. And it was not just any kind of smoke; they compared the effects of smoke from mango wood with those of havan material.Research claims that there was no reduction in the number of airborne bacteria when one kg of mango wood was burnt. But when half a kg of havan samagri was added to it, the bacterial count reduced by 94 per cent within one hour.

Report also claims that the bactericidal effect did not diminish as soon as the source of smoke was removed. The researchers sampled air quality over 24 hours, after which the room was opened. Even at the end of the duration, the bacteria count was 96 per cent lower. Repeated sampling showed the effect lingered for a month. The study was published in Journal of Ethnopharmacology (December 3, 2007).

Absence of pathogenic bacteria Corynebacterium urealyticum, Curtobacterium
flaccumfaciens, Enterobacter aerogenes (Klebsiella mobilis), Kocuria rosea, Pseudomonas syringae pv. persicae, Staphylococcus lentus, and Xanthomonas campestris pv. tardicrescens in the open room even after 30 days is indicative of the bactericidal potential of the medicinal smoke treatment. It was demonstrated that using medicinal smoke it is possible to completely eliminate diverse plant and human pathogenic bacteria of the air within confined space, says the report.

Scientists warns that if the fumes of the Havan can kill bacteria it can also affect the human health. So detail chemical analysis of gradients used in the Havan should be done.

Reference:

http://siddhashram.blogspot.com/2008/02/doing-havan-at-home.html
http://www.agri-history.org/pdf/Medicinal%20smoke.pdf
http://www.theplanetom.com/article-yajna.htm
http://scientificspirituality.awgp.org/?Research/ImpactofYagyaonPollution/

UNDERGROUND MINE FIRE ENGULFING JHARIA TOWN

JHARIA-FIRE IN THE BELLY
Underground mine fire engulfing Jharia town.
BY
DR. NITISH PRIYADARSHI


The haunting inscription that marks the gates of hell in Dante’s Inferno could well be true for Jharia, located in Jharkhand in India. For, the underground fires that have been raging in the coalfields of this town over several decades are now beginning to engulf its thickly inhabited areas as well.
Panic gripped Sudamdih new mines area under eastern Jharia on 28th December , 2007 morning when large cracks developed on the road and buildings spread over an area of nearly half km. due to the land subsidence. While major cracks developed in almost all the rooms of Birsa Memorial High School, minor cracks were seen on walls of many houses of mini slum area situated by the side.

According to eyewitness, the residents of the locality heard some gurgling sound from beneath the earth at around 9.30 in the morning and cracks started developing on the earth surface. Fearing major land subsidence, residents came out of their houses and started running helter-skelter.
In October 2007, the area had experienced gas leakage from beneath the earth after which the coal organization management dug many holes to control the underground fire by stowing water mixed sand through the holes. It is all due to underground mine fire which is now slowly engulfing the area. Fire errupted on 19/1/2008

Such is the intensity of the fires that even a mid-summer sun pales in the smoky haze that they generate. After dusk, the flames take on morbid hues. “Jharia resembles a cremation ground at night”.
Few years ago the town’s temple snapped into two. The next moment, flames leapt out from underneath spewing noxious gases. The people of Jharia then realized that the underground fire had finally reached their doorstep.
Some 150,000 miners, truck drivers, loaders and other workers brave this hazard to eke out a living. The fires have consumed about 42 million tones of India’s best coking coal.
There appears to be no permanent solution in sight. The only opinion seems to be cut out trenches to disconnect fire seams which have been identified. But this would require a huge investment. But the extent to which has flared up in Jharia makes dousing it an uphill task-particularly when all the prevailing conditions further fan the fire.
The only solution which is now seen is the “shifting of town”. This means that the relocation would affect the nearly 0.3 million population of Jharia, approximately 0.1 million houses and other buildings and prospering economy.
About Study Area:

India has a long history of commercial coal mining covering nearly 220 years starting from 1774 by M/s Sumner and Heatly of East India Company in the Raniganj Coalfield along the Western bank of river Damodar. Jharia coal field is the largest coal producer in India Consisting of 23 large underground and nine large open cast mines. The mining activities in these coalfields started in 1894 and had really intensified in 1925. The history of coalmine fire in Jharia coalfield can be traced back to 1916 when the first fire was detected. At present, more than 70 mine fires are reported from this region. The Jharia coalfield which is the only coking coal source of India is located in the district of Dhanbad (Jharkhand). The southern edge of this coalfield is marked by perennial river Damodar. Coal mine in this region was started as early as in 1890 providing a long span of hundred years of exploitation. There are 28-major coal seams, 19-in Barakar formations. Fires in Jharia coalfield have been originated basically from spontaneous combustion occurring either underground or along the outcrops, and are restricted in Barakar formations with shallow depth of less than 40m. Mainly top seams, which are thick and therefore more prone to spontaneous heating fires. There are about 20 fires spots covering an area of 17.35 sq.km. Jharia coalfield, which is a famous coalfield of Dhanbad stretches from west to east in the shape of sickle. The landscape of the area is characterized by undulating rocky and gritty surface with thin veneer of in situ-soil supporting thin and sporadic vegetation. Seasonal crop is grown over valley filled alluvium/colluviums soil. Mining quarries, mine waste dump, subsidence of land surface, settlement for mining activities etc. are very common in the region. Lower Gondwana sedimentary rocks surrounded by Achaean metamorphic and granites rocks constitute the general geology of the area.

Causes of Coal Fires:
Coal fires are a natural occurrence and as widespread as forest fires. Besides the blaze in India’s Jharia town, the coal fire of Indonesia is regarded as the wildest on the earth.
An organic and highly carbonaceous material, coal-when exposed to moisture and oxygen- tends to catch fire immediately. Coal absorbs oxygen at all temperatures with slight rise in temperature. If ventilation is not adequate to take away the heat thus formed, more oxygen will be absorbed, and more will be the rise in temperature. This process continues till it catches fire. Reaction rate is doubled for every 10 degree rise in temperature. This phenomenon of spontaneous combustion is the main natural cause of coal fires. Lightning, forest fires or frictional heat generated during churning inside the Earth’s crust can also ignite coal fires. Regarding Jharia research says that no single reason can be attributed to the fire. Jharia coal is not very prone to auto-oxidation.

Effect of coal fire on surrounding:

The pollution caused by these fires affects air, water, and land. Smoke, from these fires contains poisonous gases such as oxides and dioxides of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur, which along with particulate matter are the causes of several lung and skin diseases. High levels of suspended particulate matter increase respiratory diseases such as chronic bronchitis and asthma, while the gases contribute to global warming besides causing health hazards to the exposed population. Methane emission from coal mining depends on the mining methods, depth of coal mining, coal quality and entrapped gas content in the coal seams. These fires also pollute water by contaminating it and increasing its acidity, which is due to a certain percentage of sulphur that is present in coal. These fires lead to degradation of land and do not allow any vegetation to grow in the area. Satellite picture below shows a haze over Jharia and Dhanbad due to mine fire causing atmospheric pollution.

How to minimize fire:

Fire-fighting techniques include drilling holes and pumping inert gases or foams that stifle flames, burying the fire to deprive it of oxygen, building walls to isolate burning sections, saturating coal with liquid nitrogen, and dousing coal with water or water and soil slurries. Slurry water usually with sand, fly ash, mud is used for decreasing voids and cracks in the fire area. Water solid ratio 10:1 works well. A mixture of cement and milk of lime or CaCl2 or sodium silicate with water under pressure are becoming popular. Flooding the mine with water is the last resort in fighting fire. It is slow and very costly to repair damage it causes. When all direct methods fail, the fire area is to be sealed off. Stopping should be as close to the fire as possible and they should be leak proof. Where methane evolves the seals should not be too close to fire but 100-300 m. away so an explosive mixture is not formed.

References:
· Down to Earth Nov.2002. Jharia fires: a burning issue. Vol.11, no.13.
· Underground mine fire and explosions. 1995. CMPDI Ltd. Ranchi.

Author:
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Geologist
Rch_nitishp@sancharnet.in
Nitish.priyadarshi@gmail.com