The summit of Burning Mountain. Rising smoke is visible in the midground.

Burning Mountain is a feature near Wingen, New South Wales, Australia, approximately 300km north of Sydney just off the New England Highway. Wingen is a village in the Upper Hunter area of the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 See also New England Interstate Highways, a system of numbered highways in New England, USA, from 1922 to 1927 It takes its name from a naturally combusting coal seam running underground through the sandstone. Burning Mountain is contained in a Nature Reserve administered by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). nature reserve ( natural reserve, nature preserve, natural preserve) is a Protected area of importance for Wildlife, flora The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS is part of the Department of Environment and Climate Change - the main government conservation agency in New South Wales

A gentle trail from the Park carpark to the site where smoke emanates from the ground takes less than an hour, including the time taken to read the information panels along the route. Smoke is the collection of airborne solid and liquid Particulates and Gases ref> ''Smoke Production and Properties'' - SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering The area is steeped with Indigenous Australian heritage as well. Indigenous Australians are descendants of the first known human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, "Scientists estimate that Australia's Burning Mountain, the oldest known coal fire, has burned for 6,000 years. Smithsonian is a monthly Magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D "^[1] Original explorers and settlers to the area believed that the smoke coming from the ground was volcanic in origin.

The fire is moving in a generally southerly direction at a rate of about one metre per year.

See also

• Mine fire
• Wingen, New South Wales

References

1. ^ Krajick, Kevin (May 2005). A coal seam fire or mine fire is the underground Smouldering of a Coal deposit often a Coal mine. Wingen is a village in the Upper Hunter area of the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia. "Fire in the hole". Smithsonian Magazine: 54ff. Smithsonian is a monthly Magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian Institution (smɪθsoʊnɪən is an educational and research institute and associated Museum complex administered and funded by the Government of