The Eternal Flame Falls is a small waterfall located in the Shale Creek Preserve, a section of Chestnut Ridge Park in Western New York. A small grotto at the waterfall's base emits natural gas, which can be lit to produce a small flame. This flame is visible nearly year round, although it can be extinguished and must occasionally be re-lit. The Eternal Flame Falls were featured in the book Secret Places by Bruce Kershner and in the book What's Weird on Earth.
Eternal Flame Falls is highly dependent on rainfall and melt water. It is usually only flowing in early spring, or after long bouts of heavy rain. It reaches 30 ft high, cascading over sloping shale in two segments. A small grotto, 5 ft up from the creek bed, to the right houses the natural gas spring that can be ignited to create a flame of 4-8 inches in height and believed to be lit thousands of years ago by Native Americans. For a long time, scientists have believed that the fire burns because of gas pockets that rise from the old, extremely hot bedrock made of shale. The rock's high temperatures break down the carbon molecules in the shale, which in turn creates natural gas. When flow is high, the water pours over the grotto, covering the flame and diffusing the light like a lampshade. Eternal Flame Falls is truly one of the most unique waterfalls in the country and one of the few remaining natural areas that we find on our planet. It is said that the falls may be the only one of its kind on the planet.
Once considered an "obscure" attraction in the region, media attention and improvements to the access trail have led to an increased number of visitors. The increased popularity of the falls has led to some negative impacts, such as an increase in litter, vandalism, pollution, and impacts on the surrounding terrain by tourists,but also fueled a successful public protest against a plan to clear a nearby forested area to install a disc golf course in 2012. However, the disc golf course was installed just through the forest area.
Geologists from Indiana University Bloomington and Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology studied Eternal Flame Falls in 2013 in an effort to better understand how natural gas emitted from naturally occurring hydrocarbon seeps contribute to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They found that the 'macro seep' at Eternal Flame Falls had higher concentrations of ethane and propane (about 35%) than other known natural gas seeps, which typically contain a greater proportion of methane. They estimated that the seep at the falls emits approximately one kilogram (2.2 lb) of methane per day.
The researchers also noted the presence of numerous other 'micro seeps' in the area of the falls. By comparing the gas emitted by these seeps with gas from wells in the area, they determined that the gasses originate from Rhinestreet Shale approximately 400 meters (1,300 ft) below the surface. Tectonic activity likely opened faults in the shale, allowing the gas to reach the surface.
According to one geologist involved in the 2013 study, the seep's apparent source could provide evidence for a previously unknown geologic mechanism by which natural gas is produced within shale. Typically, shale must be hot (around 100 °C for its carbon structures to break down and form smaller natural gas molecules. However, the shale from which Eternal Flame Falls draws its gas is much cooler, in addition to being younger and shallower than typical gas-bearing shale. This may indicate that additional, as yet undemostrated, processes can contribute to the creation of natural gas in shale; one possibility is that a catalyst capable of breaking down shale in cooler conditions is present.
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