The human error that generated the “Gate of Hell”: it burns at more than 400°, terrorizing the world
Throughout the globe there are different places that usually leave more than one person stunned by their natural beauty. However, throughout history, the ecosystem has been modified by human actions, which caused disasters in certain environments that will no longer be the same as before. One of them is the Gate of Hell, in Turkmenistan. It’s about a fire hole that has been burning for more than 50 years due to human error.
A story of fire
During the 1970s, a group of workers belonging to the then Soviet Union ventured into a field in the province of Dsoguz in order to find gas and oil beneath the ground. After a series of drilling, a sector of the perimeter began to crack and a crater was created – known as Darvaza– 70 meters wide and 20 meters deep.
Methane gas began to be released from the interior holes, so The workers set fire to the place with the illusion that it would soon be exhausted.. The truth is that this did not happen and today it still remains with flames that generate the impression of being at the entrance to hell itself as Christianity conceives it.
From then on, the desert space became a tourist attraction that attracted thousands of curious people from all over the world. However, in 2022 the president of that nation, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, made the decision to close entry to the Door to hell for two reasons that concern him closely.
The escape of gas into the atmosphere can become polluting, so the Executive branch considered protecting the health of the inhabitants who reside in the surrounding towns. In second place, Turkmenistan is a country that depends on the exploitation of fossil fuels, so such a leak could generate an enormous loss of methane that is simply suspended in the atmosphere. Even, would threaten the depletion of its own reserves.
As a solution to end the continuous burning, different ideas were proposed, such as launching bombs, something that was completely ruled out. The goal is to put out the fire, however, two years later it is still the same, so the government has not found a certain solution. Many suggest plugging the pipes where the gas comes from.but at the moment there is no knowledge of how that network is made up.
In that determined and daring policy, the president mentioned to AFP: “We are losing valuable natural resources for which “We could obtain important benefits and use them to improve the well-being of our people.”.
A crater at 1000°
Inside the crater the temperature rises from 400° Celsius to 1000°, depending on the point where it is located. In 2023, Canadian Kourounis descended and photographed [con la debida protección] the inside of this hole. In conjunction with a National Geographic expedition, its objective was to take soil samples to analyze them and find out if there are heat-resistant life forms..
For his part, Kourounis’ colleague, microbiologist Stefan Green, described the depth of this cavity: “The orange glow of the flames makes the ground completely orange.” and the walls of the crater look orange. It really reminds me of being in a place like Mars, where you have that orange or red soil. It just has another earthy feel.”
Thus, beyond the Turkmen government’s efforts to attract foreign scientists to figure out how to put out the fire, the Door to hell It will continue to burn until a solution appears to put an end to it..
