Kukhi-Malik tract located at the area of Fan-Yagnob deposit of black coking coal. It is just across Yagnob River (on its north side) and about 1 km up from former Ravat Kishlak (Village). A number of small (up to 40 cm thick) coal layers hosted by folded into pleats Jurassic age sediments. They were self-igniting and burning long time and could be traced along the slopes by burnt (sometimes melted) host rocks (mostly argyllites). In the place of current burning coal is rather deep but fumarole gases still reach up to 900°C and maybe more.
This place is known for centuries as a source of salammoniac (under the name Tatar salt it was exported even in Europe), sulphur (for powder), alum and other sulphates (for leather workings). The walls of small pits which remain since last works in 1940s are a good substrate for mineral crystallization from fumaroles and also a good place for preserving sublimates from moisture.
This place is nearly identical with another point of burning coal near former Ravat itself. The type of coal and host rocks are the same, mineral species, geochemical environment are practically the same.
In both these sites mineral-forming processes are well developed and by that they differ from a number of coal combustions in close area some of them self-ignited recently (producing mostly liquid and semi-liquid organic products) and some didn't last long and are now extinct.
References
Novikov V.P., Suprychev V.V.(1986) Parameters of modern mineral-forming processes associated with underground coal combustion at Fan-Yagnob deposit. Mineralogy of Tajikistan, 7, 91-104 (in Russian).
Belakovskiy D.I., Moskalev I.V.(1988) Natural ammonium nitrate from the products of self-ignited coal layers in Kukhi-Malik valley (Central Tajikistan). Novye dannye o mineralakh (new data on minerals), 1988, v.35, p.191-194. (Russian)
Belakovskiy D.I., Novikov V.P., Pautov L.A., Suprychev V.V. (1988): First occurrence of letovicite in the USSR (Central Tajikistan) Doklady Akademii Nauk Tadzhikskoy SSR, 1988, v.ХХХI, N 9., 603-606. (Russian)
Belakovski D. (1990): Die Mineralien der brennenden Kohleflöze von Ravat in Tadshikistan. Lapis, 15 (12), 21-26. (in German)
Belakovskiy D.I., Galuskin E. (1990) Hopper crystals of natural salammoniac. Mineralogitceskiy Zhurnal, 12, xx-xx. (in Russian).
Nasdala L., Pekov I.V. (1993) Ravatite, C14H10, a new organic mineral species from Ravat, Tajikistan. Eur. J. Mineral., 5, 699-705.
Sharygin, V.V., Sokol, E.V. and Belakovskii, D.I. (2009): Fayalite-sekaninaite paralava from the Ravat coal fire (central Tajikistan). Russian Geology and Geophysics 50, 703-721.
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