Turkmenistan’s Legendary 50-Year-Old 'Door to Hell' Is Finally Fading: Here's Why
Turkmenistan’s legendary ‘Door to Hell,’ a massive fire pit burning in the Karakum Desert since 1971, is rapidly losing its blaze. Official energy reports and recent thermal satellite images confirm that the intense, decades-old inferno is finally fading.
There is a deep desert pocket named the Darvaza gas crater that has been literally on fire for over five decades now. When standing at the edge of the burning gas crater you would feel as if the gates to the underworld were opening for you. But, with time, the 70-meter-wide burning fire pit became infamous as the ‘Door to Hell’ in the deepest desert pocket in Turkmenistan.
However, scientists and researchers are now noticing a historic shift in the Turkmenistan’s Door to Hell. The 50-year-old inferno which came into existence due to an accident is finally starting to fade out.
A recent satellite observation and official updates from Ashgabat confirm that the once-blinding flames of Darvaza crater have dimmed dramatically. Let’s learn more about how the Door to Hell opened for us and the beginning of the end of Earth's most surreal geological accident is happening right now.
Why the Turkmenistan Door to Hell is Fading Away?
The sudden slowdown of the fire in Door to Hell is not a natural coincidence. The government of Turkmenistan has actively targeted the burning site to control high levels of methane gas emissions and reclaim its valuable natural resources once again.
The specialized tactical engineering has helped the cause with the successful reduction of the deep underground gas pressure responsible for the fire according to the director of the state-owned energy giant Turkmengaz.
The engineering team has drilled targeted production wells around the burning pit to extract and divert the migrating natural gas soon before it reaches the outer surface.
As a result, there has been a huge 75% drop in the heat intensity of the Door to Hell over the last three years. Even the jet-engine-like sound that once echoed across the Turkmenistan desert has softened a bit.
The Origin History of the Door to Hell in Turkmenistan
This natural phenomenon dates back to 1971 when Soviet geologists accidentally punctured a big hollow natural-gas hole while drilling for oil reservoirs. The accident resulted in the collapse of the ground entirely. Next came the swallowing of the rigs around the pit into a shallow 30-meter deep sinkhole.
The scientist was fearful that the toxic invisible gas fume would poison the nomadic villagers nearby. So they decided to spark a fire in the pit with the expectation that the gas supply would eventually burn out within a few weeks.
No one knew back then that the spark would trigger a continuous half-century burning desert pocket which would later transform the remote Karakum Desert into a major tourist attraction in Turkmenistan. Today the Gate to Hell in Turkmenistan draws almost over 10,000 visitors every year who are curious to experience the disastrous fire-pit as an attempt to peek into the underworld annually.
Harshita Singh is an education and general knowledge journalist with over 5 years of experience in educational writing. Specializing in US affairs and GK, Harshita has a track record of breaking down intricate geopolitical and historical subjects into clear, digestible insights for learners. Her strong background in text analysis, coupled with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in English from the University of Delhi, helps her produce authoritative, thoroughly researched content that empowers readers to engage confidently with global current affairs. For inquiries or academic insights, you can reach out to her directly at harshita.singh@jagrannewmedia.com.
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