Our modeling results provide important insights into the feasibility of conducting seismic studies at the Durango coal fire site. The modeling results suggest that under ideal circumstances, P-wave reflection could successfully image the unburned coal and could help to constrain the burned zone. Successful data acquisition would likley require thorough planning and seismic source selection, very careful field procedures including working directly on the rock surface (not on any soil), and great care to ensure high frequencies. A key unknown is the impact that fissures and other near-surface uncertainty would have on the data; these features might completely corrupt the wavefield and render useless data collected even under the most careful procedures.
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