THE BURNING MOUNTAINS ON DISKO ISLAND

In 2010, smoke on the mountain on Disko Island in West Greenland was reported by the local authorities in Qeqertarsuaq. Researchers from GEUS and the University of Copenhagen discovered that it was not the volcanic activity, which some locals feared, but so-called 'burning schists' - a phenomenon that is not uncommon through the Disko area. The phenomenon is caused by the collapse of mountain slopes where coal-bearing shale is present in the rock. Reactive minerals such as sulphur in the coal that come into contact with oxygen, as well as the heat generated by the friction of sliding downhill, can trigger self-combustion. Not immediately, because the temperatures are low. Only slowly does the heat, generated by the oxidation reactions in the coal seam, rise until it sustains itself and causes the coal to ignite, which in some cases burns for hundreds of years.
The "burning mountains" are mentioned in old Greenlandic legends of the Norsemen as early as 1300 AD. The phenomenon has also been documented repeatedly in more recent history, most spectacularly in 1933 and 1958 in Pujoortoq on the north side of the Nuussuaq Peninsula, where the brick-red color of the burnt shales can be seen from afar.
Burning coal not only releases a significant amount of carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, but also air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds. These pollutants have immediate and long-term negative effects on human health and the environment. They contribute to smog, acid rain, and respiratory problems.