About 80 km southwest of Antalya, near the town of Çıralı in
southwestern Turkey, lies a rocky mountain that’s been literally on fire
for thousands of years. About a dozen flames burn on the side of the
mountain fueled by methane gas that issue through the vents. The fires
called Yanartaş in Turkish, have been burning for at least 2500 years.
The vents represent the biggest emission of abiogenic methane discovered
on land so far.
For hundreds of years, sailors could see the
flames from sea and used them as a landmark to navigate, but today they
are more often used by hikers to brew tea. These flames, according to
some ancient literature, gave birth to the myth of the Chimera, a fire
breathing mythical beast with the body and head of a lion, with the head
of a goat arising from its back, and a tail that ended in a snake's
head.
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