Geologicheskii Vestnik

Based оn a wide archive material and new geological information, a problem of nature of gashydrogeothermal nature of phenomena of Yangantau Mountain (Bashkiria), a place of a famous resort, is revisited. Notwithstanding a long history of study, the phenomenon of Yangantau is still a topic of a discussion. Apart of the most popular hypothesis of an underground fire, assumptions that it is a result of frictional heating at a tectonic thrust, of sulfide burning, heat of a young igneous intrusion or even a result of a radioactive decay were suggested. The «black blocks», discovered here forthe first time (places, enriched by a carbonaceous substance) permitted to find an analogy between the mountain and burning coal refuse heaps, and a specifics of compositions of geothermal gases and their variations – to support the hypothesis of burning of hydrocarbons as the reason of their discharge. The study of a find of a native cast iron, discovered during constructional works in the resort, permitted to support this conclusion and acquire additional information оn a temperature and composition of thermal gases at an early stage of burning. Chromatography of the iron and glass from its surface in the temperature interval of 600–1000 °С have shown high concentrations of CO. A conclusion was made that it was a natural blast-furnace proces that was taking place in the Yangantau mountain. The center of burning is situated in the sedimentary rocks at a shallow depth. The ore was, probably, bog iron. A model was suggested for the burning as a multi-phase system where rocks, meteoric waters, air penetrating through fractures, bitumen contained by shales of Yangantau Formation and (probably) gaseous carbohydrates were present. At present time the temperature of burning is descending quickly, and this brings a problem before the administration of the resort how to plan its development in future.

hydrocarbons, underground burning, geothermal phenomena, black blocks, multiphase system

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