YOU CAN VISIT THIS ETERNAL FLAME FLICKERING UNDER A WATERFALL
Some things sound so magical, you might not realise that they're actually real. The list can include eternal flames, which appear like something out of a fairy tale. However, they exist and are still blazing right now. What's the best part? To locate them, you don't have to venture far below the surface of the planet.
A natural, eternal flame in Chestnut Ridge Park in Orchard Park, New York, close to Buffalo, was shared by photographer and explorer Mike Loughran. Inside a cave behind Eternal Light Falls, the flickering light remains burning all year round, even when the waterfall freezes in the winter.
There are several ways that eternal flames remain burning. It is powered by a natural gas deposit that is released at the base of the waterfall at Chestnut Ridge Park. For many years, experts believed that the fire burned because natural gas was produced as the gas pocket rose from a very hot bedrock of shale. However, more recently, Indiana University researchers discovered that this was not the case. The gas pocket still exists even though the shale wasn't old or hot enough to cause it. Scientists are unsure of the cause of the eternal flame, but there is another explanation.
You can visit Eternal Flame Falls on a short hike in Chestnut Ridge Park. If you go, remember to pack a lighter; while the flame can remain burning all year, it is sometimes extinguished and must be rekindled by a hiker.
