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The Lotts Creek coal mine fire is burning in abandoned works of the Pennsylvanian Hazard No. 9 coal, Perry County, Kentucky. Over the few months separating sampling trips, the fire showed a definite migration to the south. Several vents sampled on the first trip were extinct on the second trip. The flux of major gases varies from 1100 to 440,000 mg/s/m 2 CO 2 and < 100 to 12,000 mg/s/m 2 CO, with the gas temperature being one of the principal drivers of the emissions variations; the higher the temperature, the more CO 2 produced. Mercury, also showing wide variation, from 45 to 740 ng/s/m 2 , could not be measured at all vents due to temperature limitations inherent in the instrument. In addition to CO 2 , CO, and Hg, a number of gases among the volatile aliphatic and volatile aromatic compounds are emitted in potentially dangerous amounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Vent emissions of the Old Smokey coal fire, Floyd County, Kentucky, were studied in May and July, 2010. Vent emissions were generally lower in July, perhaps due to a shift in the fire front, change in vent structure, or another unidentified factor. Volatile organics in the vent gasses contain dangerous levels of toxic, carcinogenic, and other hazardous compounds. Benzene ranges to nearly 400 parts per billion (volume) at one vent. Toluene exceeds 104 parts per billion (volume) at the same vent. Flux rates for CO2 and CO range to 85,000mg/s/m2 and 89mg/s/m2, respectively, for various vents for the two measuring times. Estimates of total CO2 emissions, possibly less than 1000t/year, are within the range of other eastern Kentucky coal fires. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]