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Reviews in Engineering Geology, volume 18

“A solid introduction to the broad topic [of coal fires] and ... essential reading for anyone embarking in further studies in this broad discipline.”
—James C. Hower,
International Journal of Coal Geology

“I would not be surprised if this beautifully illustrated book rekindled interest in efforts to better understand the phenomenon of uncontrolled coal fires, eventually leading to global efforts to extinguish those that are burning and protocols to prevent future fires.”
—Robert B. Finkelman, University of Texas at Austin

Geology of Coal Fires: Case Studies from Around the World is The Geological Society of America’s first publication devoted to “coal-fires science,” an exciting and interdisciplinary area of research gaining international attention in recent years. Coal fires are preserved globally in the rock record as burnt and volume-reduced coal seams and by pyrometamorphic rocks, explosion breccias, clinker, gas-vent-mineral assemblages, fire-induced faulting, ground fissures, slump blocks, and sinkholes. Coal fires are responsible for coronary and respiratory diseases and fatalities in humans, as well as arsenic and fluorine poisoning. The heat energy, toxic fumes, and solid by-products of combustion destroy floral and faunal habitats, while polluting the air, water, and soil. This volume includes chapters devoted to spontaneous combustion and greenhouse gases, gas-vent mineralogy and petrology, paralavas and combustion metamorphic rocks, geochronology and landforms, magnetic signatures and geophysical modeling, remote-sensing detection and fire-depth estimation of concealed fires, as well as coal fires and public policy.

Glenn Stracher starred in the National Geographic Channel movie Underground Inferno, which won the 2009 environmental short film award at the International Film Festival in India.