Ancient Wildfires in Godavari Coalfield: New Evidence on Earth’s Atmosphere from 250 Million Years Ago

Molecular evidence of massive wildfires that swept across ancient Gondwana forests nearly 250 million years ago has provided new insights into Earth’s past climate, vegetation patterns and coal-forming environments, according to a study released by the Ministry of Science & Technology.

Researchers have identified preserved traces of ancient fire activity in Permian-age coal-bearing sediments from the Godavari Valley Coalfield in India. The findings mark one of the first large-scale confirmations of palaeofire activity in Indian Gondwana deposits using integrated microscopic and molecular techniques.

The study was conducted by scientists at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences under the Department of Science and Technology, India. It highlights how ancient wildfires influenced organic matter preservation and played a role in shaping long-term geological and climatic evolution.

Earlier research relied mainly on microscopic observation of charcoal particles, often leading to ambiguity in interpretation. To overcome this limitation, researchers adopted a multi-proxy approach combining palynofacies analysis with advanced techniques such as Raman spectroscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.

This integrated method allowed scientists to distinguish between different types of microcharcoal particles, including oxidized opaque phytoclasts (OX-CH) and fire-induced opaque phytoclasts (PAL-CH), and further classify them into high-intensity and low-intensity palaeofire residues based on their morphology and preservation.

The team, comprising Neha Aggarwal, Shivalee Srivastava and Runcie Paul Mathews, also identified key molecular signatures of combustion, including Raman spectral features indicating structural ordering and FTIR-based functional groups associated with thermal alteration.

Published in the Geological Journal (Wiley), the study suggests that such findings could improve long-term climate models by reconstructing ancient fire regimes and enhancing understanding of ecosystem responses to extreme events. Researchers say this may also help in better forecasting environmental changes linked to increasing wildfire activity in the present climate scenario.