There are a number of wonders on the surface of our very own planet Earth, we are quite familiar with very famous ones such as The Great Pyramids of Giza, Hanging gardens, the architecture of the Sphinx of Egypts and much more. We may as well consider great sites such as the Statue of Liberty and plenty of mouth-dropping structures. But have you ever heard of the Door to Hell on our planet’s surface that few people actually talk about? Probably not.
Yes it’s true, there’s actually a “gate” to hell on our Earth surface.
THE DOOR TO HELL
The door to hell is a large crater of fire located in Darvaza,Turkmenistan. This burning sinkhole is more formally known as the Darwaza gas crater, as the name “Door to Hell” was tagged by the locals of the area, and ofcourse we can see why they did just that. The giant sinkhole measures an outstanding
69 metres wide, 30 metres deep, and has constantly been in flames ever since about 45years ago. The fire of the gas crater is very unique it burns so clean i.e no smoke or residue, just burning, seems to what looks like a volcano with boiling magma and fire without smoke.
LOCATION
located in the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan’s Derweze, in Asia
HISTORY
The spot was originally supposed to be a natural gas rich spot when engineers and Soviet geologist detected had its presence with the technology at that time (1971). On continuous drilling of the gas spot,the ground around the drillhole along with the rig collapsed into a very deep crater, exposing methane gas and other noxious gases to the surrounding which could be very hazardous when inhaled. In order to terminate this problem, the geologists set the crater on fire to try to burn the natural gas off, without the knowledge of what would result to an everlasting effect. As it was expected that the fire would burn for just a few days or weeks, the fire went on till the point it was a matter of concern. The giant hole still burns till today, after so many attempts to put the fire out.
The unpleasant smell of burning sulfur permeates the area in every direction even yards away while it recesses spit boiling mud with orange flames licking high from the molten rock, thereby causing a terrible impact on the surrounding village.
With the intention to create more natural gas reserves and safety of the locals, the president of Turkmenistan in 2010, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, ordered that the crater be closed, this mission was not accomplished or rather successful. In 2013, Canadian adventurer George Kourounis, was tagged the first person to be brave enough to descend into the pit. His aim was to collect samples of extremophiles (creatures that survive well in extremely high temperatures), and his mission was a success. George specializes in documenting extreme weather and worldwide natural disasters and he also presents the television series Angry Planet.
George Kourounis
CONCLUSION
The door to hell is now a tourist attraction and center, thereby aiding the Turkmenistan economy. Although, the population of Derweze( village around the hell door) have been recorded to have drastically reduced in population probably due to the state of the area, well good thing the crater is situated in the middle of a desert so problems might just be very minute, and due to the finance of the country, the door to hell won’t be closed anytime soon.
The Door To Hell
IMAGE SOURCES
Image 1 -
Crater of Fire: source
Image 2 -
Google Maps: Turkmenistan’s Crater of Fire
Image 3 -
George Kourounis
Image 4 -
Crater giphy
REFERENCES