Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Darvaza, Turkmenistan - Door to Hell

wiki Darvaza underground is naturally rich in natural gas. In 1971, during a drilling, geologists accidentally found an underground cavern filled with natural gas. The ground on which the drilling rig was placed collapsed, leaving a large gaping hole exposed with a diameter of about 50-100 meters. To avoid poisonous gases coming out of the hole, it was decided to let the gases burn. As of 2008, gases in the underground cavern are still burning without interruption. Locals have named the cavern The Door to Hell.
More videos Google Maps link (it's the small red circle)
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2 comments:

  1. Kamiel23 September, 2008 22:17

    nice pictures. would be a nice place for a BBQ.

    why isn't this energy captured ?

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  2. cybrbeast24 September, 2008 09:49

    Maybe it's an uneconomical reserve. Building a cap over that crater would be quite hard and a big investment. Maybe the rest of that gas field is hard to exploit or maybe it hasn't been prospected yet.
    I wonder how much energy is burned up there though.

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