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Eternal Flame | An optical illusion

  • Eternal Flame Hiking Trail, Orchard Park, NY 14127, Stati Uniti
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Type
Altro
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Hosted in
Inglese

Description

Behind the cascade of a small waterfall in the Shale Creek Preserve section of Chestnut Ridge Park in suburban Buffalo, New York, you might see what appears to be an optical illusion: a flickering golden flame. Actually, you'll smell it before you see it, and amazingly, it's real, fueled by what geologists call a macroseep of natural gas from the Earth below. A geological fault in the shale allows about 1 kilogram of methane gas per day to escape to the surface, where, at some point, possibly the early 20th century, a visitor had the idea to set it alight. The water occasionally extinguishes the flame, but there's always another hiker with a lighter to reignite it.

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