Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 7.1.6. Route 61 through Centralia, PA. The cracks are due to subsidence of the road into abandoned coal-
mine tunnels beneath the road. Subsidence occurs when coal pillars supporting the roof of a tunnel burn and
collapse. Note the toxic gas exhaled along the cracks. Photo by Janet L. Stracher, 2003.
Figure 7.1.7. A coal fire of uncertain origin partially destroyed a home in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The fire
started in September 1997 in a coal bed exposed in a stream valley and burned beneath the house shown here, near
the Samarinda
Balikpapan road. The house was relocated across the road, repaired, and the fire extinguished by
November 1999. Photo by Alfred E. Whitehouse, 1998.
-
In a comprehensive study of minerals nucleated adjacent to gas vents associated with surface and underground coal
fires in the Anthracite Region of Pennsylvania, Lapham and others (1980) described 33 mineral species, many
containing potentially toxic compounds. These minerals include native selenium (Se), galena (PbS), realgar (AsS),
orpiment (As
2
S
3
), arsenolite (As
2
O
3
), downeyite (SeO
2
), and unnamed As
2
Se
3
(subsequently named laphamite,
