Door to hell In 1971 Soviet geologists started drilling a hole in Turkmenistan’s Karakum desert when after a while they ran into a cavern filled with gas. Just after they started storing gas the cavern collapsed into a 70m diameter hole. Thus, geologist decided to… wait for it… light it on fire! The geologists figured it would be best to burn it off instead of other expensive methods to retrieve the gas. Also, they were afraid of poisonous gases being released. Burning methane is indeed better that letting this greenhouse gas loose in the atmosphere. However, their idea was that the gas field would only burn for a few weeks. To date it has been burning for 43 years and shows no sign of stopping. The hole is also known as ‘the door to hell’. From the nearby village of Darvaza (literally door) a golden glow can be seen over the hole. Darvaza is, however, not the longest burning fire in history. The coal mines under the town of Centralia in Pennsylvania has been burning for 50 years. Here the fire department supposedly decided to light up the town landfill in 1962 to clean up for labor day. Unknowingly they ignited a coal deposit under the city. Centralia is now a near-ghost town with only few resident living there. By far the longest ongoing fire is located in Australia at Burning Mountain (also known as Mount Wingen). This combusting coal seam has been burning for at least 5500 years. Since its identification by European colonists in 1829 the fire has shifted 150 m with a rate of 1m a year. -OW- Image: Copyright of Tormod Sandtorv. Panorama of the smouldering Derweze natural gas field. References: atlasobscura/places/the-gates-of-hell isciencetimes/articles/6368/20131121/door-to-hell-video-fire-derweze-turkmenistan.htm smithsonianmag/travel/fire-in-the-hole-77895126/ environment.nsw.gov.au/NationalParks/parkHome.aspx?id=N0503
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 09:14:47 +0000
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