Eternal Flames: Geologists Investigate Ancient Myths To Know More About Modern Fuel 

Millennia ago, ancient cultures were astounded by the seeming miracle of natural flames which burned day and night for weeks, decades, or even centuries.

The tales of such flames have become a focus of interest for geologists and oil and gas explorers, as the flames not only reveal the spiritual and cultural rituals of the past, but can also give clues in modern geology and current gas seepage.

According to science news website Phys.org, Guiseppe Etiope of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy writes in his new book, “Natural Gas Seepage” that studying legends of historical eternal flames can reveal to researchers locations and durations of gas seepage fires observed in the ancient past.

Knowing certain fires burned and for how long can help determine which ones have not been caused by modern human activity, such as fracking or drilling.

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New Theory: Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Triggered Largest Lava Flows On Earth 

New theory links impact to re-ignition of Deccan Traps lava flows 66 million years ago.

The asteroid that slammed into the ocean off Mexico 66 million years ago and killed off the dinosaurs probably rang the Earth like a bell, triggering volcanic eruptions around the globe that may have contributed to the devastation, according to a team of University of California, Berkeley, geophysicists.

Specifically, the researchers argue that the impact likely triggered most of the immense eruptions of lava in India known as the Deccan Traps, explaining the “uncomfortably close” coincidence between the Deccan Traps eruptions and the impact, which has always cast doubt on the theory that the asteroid was the sole cause of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.

Illustration of a hot mantle plume “head” pancaked beneath the Indian Plate.

The theory by Richards and his colleagues suggests that existing magma within this plume head was mobilized by strong seismic shaking from the Chicxulub asteroid impact, resulting in the largest of the Deccan Traps flood basalt eruptions.

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