Door to Hell
Fire crater called "Door to Hell" in the center of Kara-kum Desert in Turkmenistan is been burning for decades. Can you beleive that??? ...You have to :)
Location : Middle of Karakum Desert, Derweze ,Ahal Province, about 260 km north from Ashgabat the capital city of Turkmenistan ( 40°15′9.4″N 58°26′21.8″E )
Diameter : 70 metres (230 ft)
Depth : 20 metres (66 ft).
This was an Oil field site which was identified by Soviet union in 1971. Scientists began drilling the area but after few days the ground beneath the drilling rig and camp collapsed into a wide crater and disappeared and large quantity of Methane gas was released causing danger to people living in nearby villages.
Fearing the further release of poisonous gases from the crater, the scientists decided to burn it off so they ignited the gas, thinking that it will be exhausted in few days or weeks...but it went on and now it's more than years...
Amazing video of the flames burning inside the crater in the center of the Karakum Desert of Turkmenistan
http://youtu.be/SnKqMQgV1vg
You can see the gas is flowing through hundreds of vents in the hole, seems very difficult to plug them all up effectively. Worse than wasting the gas by burning it is to release it into the atmosphere. The deposit this gas is coming from, was considered depleted before they lit the hole on fire, to prevent potentially toxic gas to leak into the atmosphere. They expected it to burn for a few weeks but now it has been decades...
Fire crater called "Door to Hell" in the center of Kara-kum Desert in Turkmenistan is been burning for decades. Can you beleive that??? ...You have to :)
Location : Middle of Karakum Desert, Derweze ,Ahal Province, about 260 km north from Ashgabat the capital city of Turkmenistan ( 40°15′9.4″N 58°26′21.8″E )
Diameter : 70 metres (230 ft)
Depth : 20 metres (66 ft).
This was an Oil field site which was identified by Soviet union in 1971. Scientists began drilling the area but after few days the ground beneath the drilling rig and camp collapsed into a wide crater and disappeared and large quantity of Methane gas was released causing danger to people living in nearby villages.
Fearing the further release of poisonous gases from the crater, the scientists decided to burn it off so they ignited the gas, thinking that it will be exhausted in few days or weeks...but it went on and now it's more than years...
Amazing video of the flames burning inside the crater in the center of the Karakum Desert of Turkmenistan
http://youtu.be/SnKqMQgV1vg
You can see the gas is flowing through hundreds of vents in the hole, seems very difficult to plug them all up effectively. Worse than wasting the gas by burning it is to release it into the atmosphere. The deposit this gas is coming from, was considered depleted before they lit the hole on fire, to prevent potentially toxic gas to leak into the atmosphere. They expected it to burn for a few weeks but now it has been decades...
