The Eternal Flame Falls is a small waterfall located in the Shale Creek Preserve, a section of Chestnut Ridge Park in Western New York.

Once considered an "obscure" attraction in the region, media attention and improvements to the access trail have led to an increased number of visitors.

[3][4] Geologists from Indiana University Bloomington and Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology studied Eternal Flame Falls in 2013 in an effort to better understand how natural gas emitted from naturally occurring hydrocarbon seeps contribute to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

[5] According to one geologist involved in the 2013 study, the seep's apparent source could provide evidence for a previously unknown geologic mechanism by which natural gas is produced within shale.

Typically, shale must be hot (around 100 °C [212 °F]) for its carbon structures to break down and form smaller natural gas molecules.