Darvaza Gas Crater – The Gates to Hell in Turkmenistan

The Gates to Hell also known as “Darvaza gas crater” and Door to Hell in Turkmenistan. This is a natural gas field that accidentally collapsed into a cavern in the Darvaza drilling rig to fall in. It is believed that the geologists of Russia may have purposely set it on fire to stop the spread of methane gas. The Gates to hell having punctured pockets of gas, poisonous fumes started fumes leaking at an alarming rate.

However, many geologists think it has been burning continuously since 1971 and is expected to keep on burning. The Gates to Hell is situated in the middle of the Karakum Desert, approximately 160 miles from Ashgabat, the Capital city of Turkmenistan. The engineers thought, to be a substantial oil field site to access the oil quantity this site. The closer you get, the brighter it glows. However, the Gates to Hell was a dot of light moments ago and is now a giant crater with fire coming out of it.

The Gates to Hell crater has an area of 5,350 m2 with a 226ft diameter and its depth is about 98 ft). It’s a popular tourist attraction in Turkmenistan. The beautiful wild desert camping is my favorite surrounding area. The fiery glowing Darvaza Gas Crater can be seen from miles. The nearby village “Derweze” captured the public imagination as a mystery named it Door to Hell due to continuous fire, boiling mud, and orange flames of the crater.

Surprisingly, regardless of the crater’s menacing name and ever-present dangerous flames, tourists still trek into the wild desert to witness the burning site in all its blazing glory.  In 2010, Turk president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow ordered the closure of the hole, to save the nearby towns from the dangerous release of poisonous gases however couldn’t due to various reasons.

The Gates to Hell history is uncertain until 1960,s. After reviewing the samples of Gates of Hell soil, a crusty bacteria species discovered active at the bottom of the crater has the ability to live in high temperatures. Similar to gate to hell a Lava Lake that’s been flowing for more than 100 years in Afar Ethiopia.