Everything to Know About The Gateway to Hell in Turkmenistan

The Gateway To Hell, properly known as the Darvaza gas crater is a burning natural gas field located in the middle of the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan.

The nature reserve was recently in the news after  Turkmenistan’s president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered the extinguishing of the fire that has been burning for over 5 decades.

The gas field which is one of the largest gas reserves in the world is believed to have been ignited by Soviet geologists who intentionally set it on fire in 1971 to prevent the spread of methane gas, and it is thought to have been burning continuously ever since.

The name “Gateway To Hell” was given to the field by the locals, referring to the fire, boiling mud, and orange flames in the large crater.

According to a geologist named Anatoly Bushmakin, The gas field was identified by Soviet engineers in 1971 and it was originally thought to be a substantial oil field site. 

The engineers set up a drilling rig and operations to assess the quantity of oil available at the site. Soon after the preliminary survey found a natural gas pocket, the ground beneath the drilling rig and camp collapsed into a wide crater and the rig was buried with no casualties.

Expecting dangerous releases of poisonous gases from the cavern into nearby towns the engineers considered it advisable to burn the gas off. It was estimated that the gas would burn out within a few weeks, but it has instead continued to burn for more than 50 years and is expected to keep on burning.

Although many people see the crater as a huge mysterious fire that has been burning for decades, According to Wikipedia the crater is a simple geological anomaly; a superficial gas pocket that allowed the ground to sink into a natural depression, allowing the slowly escaping natural gas from a large deeper natural gas field to both accumulate and burn without being extinguished by the wind, or rapidly diluted.

It is important to note that they are similar burning gas fields in other parts of the world, such as California, Nigeria Etc. As earlier stated these fires are caused due to the ignition of natural gas escaping from the ground.

Read More: Top 10 Places To Visit In Qatar, Must-Visit: Best 10 Places to Have Fun time or Hang Out in Ilorin