The further adventures of Tin Man: Vertical temperature gradients at the Lotts Creek coal mine fire, Perry County, Kentucky
Introduction
The Lotts Creek coal fire is located in the low-sulfur, high volatile A bituminous Hindman (Hazard No. 9) coalbed in the Hazard North 7 ½-minute quadrangle, Perry County, Kentucky (Fig. 1). The abandoned underground and surface mines (contour mining, followed by auger mining) are on the west-facing side of the north–south-orientated ridge. Active oil and gas wells are located on the bench in front of the slope containing the burning coal. The combination of the latter wells and the coal fire have the potential to be a serious problem if the coal fire ignites a grass fire, a possible scenario in the drought conditions prevalent in the summer of 2012. Residents of the coalfields are keenly aware of fires in abandoned underground mines. The coal fire came to the attention of the public on 11 December 2011 when nearby residents reported hearing explosions originating from the site. None of the rumored reasons for the explosion, such as an airplane crash, a meteorite impact, or an explosion at a methamphetamine laboratory, along with more extreme explanations, could be demonstrated.1
In studies of coal fires in Kentucky, measurements made at the fire vents have included determinations of a wide range of gas compositions; mineral assemblages; emitted gas temperatures; and gas emission rates (Hower et al., 2009, Hower et al., 2011, O'Keefe et al., 2010, O'Keefe et al., 2011, Silva et al., 2011a, Silva et al., 2011b). In particular, Hower et al. (2011) measured CO emissions and T in vents at the Ruth Mullins coal mine fire, Perry County, Kentucky. During that study, the apparatus holding the dataloggers and supporting the thermocouples was named “Tin Man.” Other investigations of the thermal regime of coal mine fires have focused on the heat flow through the overlying rocks (Bustin and Mathews, 1982, Bustin and Mathews, 1985, Huang et al., 2001). In this study, we use a redesigned “Tin Man” apparatus to examine the down-vent temperature variations over a three-week period at the Lotts Creek coal mine fire, Perry County, Kentucky.
Section snippets
Methods
As discussed in Hower et al. (2011), it was determined that the remotely-deployed equipment needed to be relatively inexpensive due to (1) the danger of damage to the instruments in the hostile environment, (2) the possibility of loss of the instruments as vents open or close with the collapse of the mine, and (3) the possibility of theft. Harris et al. (2005) employed a similar strategy in their studies.
After experiments with multi-week data acquisition at the Ruth Mullins coal fire, Perry
Results
The raw and processed data for the middle three thermocouples are given in Appendix A.
The temperature recorded by the middle (3rd) thermocouple vs. the elapsed time (Fig. 4) shows that the temperature variations were relatively small for the first week (> 10,000 min; day 8) of the experiment. This period was followed by an interval of more extreme temperature swings through ca. 28,000 min (day 20), with the highest temperature, 138.5 °C, at 11:30 h3
Discussion
The temperature fluctuations seen at the Lotts Creek coal fire, with the extreme swings in temperature generally occurring during the daylight hours, resemble the variations observed by Hower et al. (2011) for the Ruth Mullins coal fire. Since the Lotts Creek site is on the west-facing side of a north-south ridge, the late-morning (10:00–11:00 h) onset of the daylight temperature swings would roughly correspond to the time of the sunlight heating of the hillside.
The natural variations in the
Acknowledgments
We wish to acknowledge EQT for allowing access to the site and for providing needed assistance in pulling us out of the ditch on the road over the mountain. We thank Shifeng Dai and an anonymous reviewer for their critiques of the first version of this manuscript.
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Cited by (10)
Gas emissions, tars, and secondary minerals at the Ruth Mullins and Tiptop coal mine fires
2018, International Journal of Coal GeologyCitation Excerpt :Before this concern can even be addressed, however, much more information is needed on coal fire emissions and dynamics. Studies of coal fires in Kentucky have concentrated on the six mine fires that are most easily accessible: Laura Campbell (Stracher et al., 2008), Ruth Mullins (Hower et al., 2011; Silva et al., 2011a, 2011b; O'Keefe et al., 2010), Truman Shepherd (O'Keefe et al., 2010; Hower et al., 2013; Dindarloo et al., 2015), Old Smokey (O'Keefe et al., 2011), Tiptop (Hower et al., 2009), and Lotts Creek (Hower et al., 2012; Garrison et al., 2017).6 The Ruth Mullins coal mine fire (Fig. 1) is the most studied coal fire in eastern Kentucky.
Gaseous emissions from the Lotts Creek coal mine fire: Perry County, Kentucky
2017, International Journal of Coal GeologyCitation Excerpt :In the course of some of our previous studies of eastern Kentucky coal fires, we determined short-term temperature variations at the Ruth Mullins, Old Smokey, and Truman Shepherd coal fires (Hower et al., 2011; O'Keefe et al., 2011; Hower et al., 2013; and Dindarloo et al., 2015). Similarly, in the course of this investigation of the Lotts Creek coal fire, Hower et al. (2012) determined the vertical temperature gradient in one vent. They found that, following a period of relative stability, the temperature rose rapidly on 3 May 2012, resulting in a 47 °C/m temperature gradient.
A statistical assessment of carbon monoxide emissions from the truman shepherd coal fire, floyd county, kentucky
2015, International Journal of Coal GeologyCitation Excerpt :For example, while an early 2009 starting date of the Truman Shepherd coal fire studied here has been cited in reports to the state, anecdotal evidence from conversations with local residents' points to a much longer history. The emissions from coal fires contain a broad series of C1 to C10 hydrocarbons, benzene–toluene–ethylene–xylene (BTEX) gases, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and inorganic species (Hower et al., 2009, 2013; O'Keefe et al., 2011; Silva et al., 2011a, 2012) along with CO, CO2, and Hg (Carras et al., 2009; Hower et al., 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013; Ide and Orr, 2011; Krevor et al., 2011; O'Keefe et al., 2010, 2011; Querol et al., 2011; van Dijk et al., 2011; Zhao et al., 2008). We have observed breathing cycles in several Kentucky fires, including the Laura Campbell fire (Perry County, KY; 2007 observations by Hower and others not yet documented in a published paper), the Ruth Mullins fire (documentation from both CO and T; Hower et al., 2011), the Lotts Creek fire (T data; Hower et al., 2012); and the Truman Shepherd fire (T data; Hower et al., 2013).
A Review of Coal-Fire Sampling Methods
2014, Coal and Peat Fires: A Global PerspectiveGaseous emissions and sublimates from the Truman Shepherd coal fire, Floyd County, Kentucky: A re-investigation following attempted mitigation of the fire
2013, International Journal of Coal GeologyCitation Excerpt :Since the temperature-variation study was conducted in the November and December 2011, perhaps it can be argued that the results were more a function of the ambient air temperatures at that time of the year than of any overall trends. However, studies at other fires conducted in September and in December and January (Hower et al., 2011) and in April and May (Hower et al., 2012) showed similar behavior. Still, future work should repeat such studies in other months to determine the impact of the air temperature versus the exhaust gas temperature.