Burning gas field in tajikistan. Darvaza gas crater

There is a man-made cataclysm in Central Asia, in Turkmenistan - a huge gas crater.

In 1971, near the village of Darvaza, geologists were drilling a well and stumbled upon an accumulation of underground gas. The field was so powerful that gas under strong pressure began to come out of the drilled well, creating a threat to everything around. They didn’t come up with anything smarter than how to set it on fire in the hope that it would burn out in a few days.

During the arson, an explosion occurred and a huge crater formed, where the drilling rig with all the equipment fell, but the gas continued to burn now with even greater force. Nobody else did anything else. And since then, this giant torch with a diameter of 60 and a depth of 20 meters has been buzzing and burning in the desert.

The locals call it the "Gate of Hell" or "The Door to the Underworld."

Not far away there are two more such craters, but no longer burning. At the bottom of one, light gray mud is bubbling.

Somehow, the President of Turkmenistan gave an order to extinguish this crater so that there would be no threat to the renewed exploration of the gas field in these places. But how much gas was lost during these forty-odd years, how much oxygen in the atmosphere burned out from this torch, and what harm was done to the environment, no one counted.

In another, some kind of green liquid. Locals do not recommend coming close.

Is it any wonder that in recent years there have been terrible cataclysms in many parts of the world. Somewhere it floods entire cities, somewhere tsunamis demolish entire islands, and somewhere powerful tornadoes devastate entire regions. Mother earth does not forgive such an attitude towards herself.

Man and nature is an eternal struggle for survival, which does not always immediately reveal the winner. There are any number of facts that human intervention in the existing order on earth in order to get some benefit from it, subsequently turns into irreversible disasters. The efforts of people to turn natural resources for their own benefit sometimes turn into natural disasters.

Darvaza - The Darvaza well (Turkm. Derweze from Persian "دروازه" [darvaza] - "gate") is a gas crater in Turkmenistan. Locals and travelers call it the “Door to the Underworld”, or the “Gate of Hell” Turkmen. jähenneme açylan gapy). It is located 90 km from the village of Erbent. Approximate parameters of the crater: diameter - 60 meters; depth: - 20 meters.

In 1971, near the village of Darvaza in Turkmenistan, Soviet geologists discovered an accumulation of underground gas. As a result of drilling an exploration well, geologists stumbled upon an underground cavern (void), due to which the earth collapsed and a large hole filled with gas formed. The drilling rig with all the equipment and transport fell into the resulting hole, people were not injured in this incident. To prevent the gases harmful to people and livestock from escaping, they decided to set them on fire. Geologists assumed that the fire would go out in a few days, but they were wrong. Since 1971, natural gas escaping from the crater has been burning continuously day and night.

Nothing that gets inside can no longer get out. Any living being is doomed. Once in the afterlife through these "doors", no one can get out. Buzzing and bursting with hot air crater with a diameter of 60 and a depth of 20 meters. Gas comes from underground, splitting into hundreds of burning torches of different sizes. In some torches, flames reach 10-15 meters in height. The village of Darvaza was demolished in 2004.

In the center of the Karakum desert (Turkmenistan), not far from the disappeared village called Darvaza, there is a funnel about a hundred meters in diameter and more than twenty meters deep called "the door to Hell."

Inside this well, which has been burning for decades, the fire looks endless.

The Darvaza well is not a natural phenomenon, but the result of an unsuccessful analysis of Soviet geological exploration data in the 50s.

In 1971, drilling provoked a collapse of an underground cavity, which opened a gaping hole with the release of a huge volume of gas.

Geologists decided to set fire to the well to prevent the release of toxic gases.

Soviet geologists grossly underestimated the size of the cavity: the gas, which was supposed to burn out in a few weeks, has actually been burning without interruption since 1971!

It is not known how long the “door to Hell” will burn. Despite the fact that the Darvaza well is located in a remote area, many people gather there to watch the mesmerizing spectacle.

The intense heat emanating from the funnel, due to the unbearable temperature, allows you to approach the place for only a few minutes.

Not far from the burning crater there are two more similar failures of a similar origin. These craters do not burn, the gas pressure is much weaker here. At the bottom of one of the craters there is a bubbling liquid mud of a light gray color, at the bottom of another there is a liquid of a turquoise hue.

Experts say that with the help of directional drilling from denser areas, two deposits can be exploited. In the area with the "turquoise" lake, mining is no longer possible. Not far from the fiery crater there are several mothballed wells.

Video of the Darvaza well shot in Turkmenistan near the village of Yerbent.

They actually exist!)) Gates to hell, Gates of hell, Door to the underworld - this is how this unusual place in Turkmenistan is called. This is a deep cave in the middle of the Karakum desert, inside which a fire is constantly burning, making a terrible impression and attracting the attention of tourists.

The burning crater undoubtedly attracts people - and scares away animals and all other living creatures. The fact is that it smells terrible and threatens death. Now in order. In this place, where the Gate is now, a natural gas field was discovered in 1971. They began to develop it - but they stumbled upon an underground void, a cavern, as a result, the entire tower with vehicles and equipment (though there were no casualties) fell into the ground.

The gas began to come out, and in order to avoid its impact on the environment and poisoning, they decided to set it on fire (at least, it was stated that way. It is not a fact that it was accidentally, inadvertently not set on fire))). Since then, since 1971, it has been burning - like a huge eternal flame. How many cubic meters of precious fuel released into the air - no one knows. In those years, the crater could not be extinguished technically - now, most likely, there is a possibility, but the gas continues to burn. In 2010, the President of Turkmenistan visited this place, ordered to fill it up, extinguish it - in general, stop burning.

The cave is huge - its diameter is about 60 meters, the depth is about 20 meters, the height of the flame in some places is up to 15 meters. There are many fires - gas burns with hundreds of torches. If you fall into a cave, you are unlikely to get out without outside help ...

This is where I personally do not pull - although those who saw it "live" say that it is terribly beautiful and makes a tremendous impression. I don't doubt it...

Darvaza, or, as it is also called, the Gates of Hell, is the most mysterious place in Turkmenistan, about which those who are interested in all kinds of natural mysteries have probably heard.

For 40 years now, the 70-meter crater that has been burning in the Karakum desert has attracted tourists and researchers, becoming more and more legends. Few sources say that the crater was formed in 1971, when Soviet geologists discovered an underground cavity with natural gas in the desert.

However, during the development of the field, a collapse occurred, the drilling rig went underground, and gas began to flow from the formed crater.

Later, it was decided to set it on fire, but scientists underestimated the volume of gas reserves, so since then the cavity has not been extinguished and continues to burn, being visible even from space.

The intense heat and the danger of collapse of the edges of the crater did not allow all these years to penetrate into the funnel and study it from the inside.

But in November 2013, the famous traveler and explorer George Coronis from Canada became the first person in the world to descend to the bottom of a 30 m deep crater.

This expedition funded in part by National Geographic magazine. Her goal was to collect soil at the bottom of the crater in order to understand whether some organisms could exist in such conditions. According to the traveler, it took him a year and a half to prepare the expedition - obtaining permission, preparing equipment, gathering a team. Before leaving, I had to practice over the gorge of the local river: it was necessary to try out the descent along the outstretched rope, when Koronis was dressed in a heat-proof suit, had a breathing apparatus and special climbing equipment.

This equipment had to be made to order from Kevlar, otherwise it would have melted from the intense heat.

“I even had to hire a special stuntman who shoots videos for Hollywood to set me on fire, and I didn’t panic when there was a flame around me,” Coronis said. According to him, the area around the crater is public, sometimes motorcycles or trucks pass by, sometimes tourists come.

The researcher compared his feelings during the descent into the crater with being on another planet. And the fact that he constantly had to monitor the breathing apparatus, the condition of the ropes, video filming, did not leave him time to be scared.

“I would call it the Colosseum of Fire: wherever you look, there are thousands of small torches everywhere.

nationalgeographic.com

And the sound is like the roar of a jet engine, such a powerful, oppressive sound of burning gas. And no smoke,” said the hero.

Even if the scientists failed to find organisms at the bottom of the crater, collecting soil samples would still be a success. However, Koronis was lucky.

He managed to find bacteria that live at the bottom of the crater and thrive in high temperatures.

The surprising thing was that these bacteria are not found anywhere on the surface of the earth and feel great living in a small ecosystem at the bottom of a hot crater. The discovery of such life forms is very important from the point of view of astrobiology, because on many planets outside the solar system, conditions resemble a hellish crater in Turkmenistan.

According to Koronis, communication with local residents somewhat changed his ideas about the history of the crater. “I heard from local Turkmen geologists that the failure did not occur in 1971, but in the 1960s and remained unburned until the 1980s. It is difficult for me to get to the bottom of the truth, but I learned this from reliable sources. I don’t know how it really was, ”said the traveler.

Other mysterious hole in the earth, which attracted the attention of the public and scientists, was discovered quite recently in Yamal from a helicopter flying from a nearby gas field. The crater has already been studied by the chief researcher of the Institute of the Earth's Cryosphere of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Marina Leibman, and Andrey Plekhanov, a senior researcher at the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug "Scientific Center for the Study of the Arctic".

According to Leibman, the formation of a sinkhole may be a consequence of the thermokarst process. Some geologists believe that the deep lakes on Yamal could have been formed in this way. “Watching what is happening today, I see that the theory may well have deep meaning,” says Leibman.

From time to time, yellow papers and non-science fiction sites report that scientists, ufologists or astronauts allegedly "found hell": on the Sun, on the Moon, in the center of the Galaxy, in their cellar. Of course, it is impossible to believe in this infernal nonsense. Impossible until you see" gates of hell"- a burning crater in the middle of the desert in Turkmenistan. If somewhere in the world there is a gate to the underworld, then they are located exactly there, in Darvaza.

The very name "Darvaza" means " gates", and an absolutely amazing story is connected with this. The fact is that this is not the name of the crater itself, but the village closest to it. And when she received it, no gates of hell were observed nearby. They appeared, like all the most terrible and beauty in the world, thanks to human intervention.In the early 70s, geologists discovered a promising gas field(in Turkmenistan they are not uncommon at all). Drilling and mining began, but in the course of work, geologists stumbled upon a "surprise": an underground cave. An oil rig, equipment and transport fell into it, but, fortunately, there were no casualties.

Of course, natural gas began to flow from a hole in the ground. So that local residents would not be poisoned by harmful compounds, it was decided to set fire to this gas in the expectation that it would soon burn out and go out. As you understand, the crater has not died out so far, and is not even going to. The width of the crater is 60 meters, depth - 20 . An ominous bright flame sticks out its "fingers" from it day and night - but if it somehow does not touch during the day, then in the dark " gates of hell"reveal themselves in all their glory: the cavern looks like it came down in flesh and color from a medieval engraving.

Thousands of tourists come to look at the entrance to the underworld: their interest is fueled by the yet-to-be-executed decree of the new president of Turkmenistan on the need to fill up the fiery pit. Even earlier, in 2004, by order of Turkmenbashi, the village of Darvaza was demolished. Maybe it's some kind of bad luck?