I didn't know that

From the History channel - Journey to the center of the earth, this documentary (and maybe the title is off and could be "Journey to the Core of Earth" is more than interesting! While they were showing fifty feet below the surface as the show began, I began to wonder, what does happen to the space where mining has occurred? And that was next. The documentary tells of a town somewhere in Pennsylvania, that is a town that was once in Pennsylvania.

Well, I had never associated Pennsylvania as a mining town, and had generally thought of the Appalachians as coal mining country, but am also aware that Illinois mines coal. The three countries that provide nearly all of the coal that is used on earth comes from China, Russia and the United States. Pennsylvania provides the largest amount of coal in the USA. Now we are talking up to 400 feet below the surface.

The town that was depicted in the documentary and was seriously affected by the mining was a small close knit community where everyone knew everyone else. The houses and business seemed to be located along the main street. The residents loved living there, then suddenly the top crust of the earth beneath them began sinking, eventually swallowing the entire town.

As the road through town crumbled making it impossible to travel, so did the foundations of the homes and buildings. I believe that it said it was in 1972 the government assisted and relocated all the residents there.

A fire below in the old mine shafts had started emitting toxic fumes of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Now it is just a waste land that emits toxic fumes making it distasteful and even dangerous to breath as the fire continued to burn at the time the documentary was made.

The documentary goes on to tell of other disastrous results from mining in other countries, especially one hundred feet deep sink holes in South America swallowing an entire block, and another instance of a silver mine in a northern European country that has utilized the space as a tourist attraction where a hotel now occupies the underground space, even equipping it with silver chandeliers. And another instance where a tree root was followed down over 400 feet below.

I went to sleep watching it before they arrived at the Core, but remember something about organisms living in spaces that had been water filled where an organism could live without air, a new kind of anaerobic organism. And heat in the core exceeding 1000 degrees.

A very interesting documentary, watch it if you get a chance.