More Sinkholes with a twist

[Kevnool (Kev)]

In the hot, expansive Karakum desert in Turkmenistan, near the 350 person village of Derweze, is a hole 328 feet wide that has been on fire, continuously, for 38 years. Known as the Darvaza Gas Crater or the "Gates of Hells" by locals, the crater can be seen glowing for miles around.
The hole is the outcome not of nature but of an industrial accident. In 1971 a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, causing the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in. Having punctured a pocket of gas, poisonous fumes began leaking from the hole at an alarming rate. To head off a potential environmental catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole alight. The crater hasn't stopped burning since.
Though little information is available about the fate of the Soviet drilling rig, presumably it is still down there somewhere, on the other side of the "Gates of Hell."


Check these pics of this sinkhole on fire at
http://www.johnhbradley.com/pictures...=070707darvaza

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

If there was a price on carbon they'd go broke

[mozzie (Peter)]

great pictures kev!!!

look at that middle of the desert and still light polllution!!!

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Yes mike plenty of carbon emissions there, after 38 years they still cant get it out.
I bet shirts were trumps when the rig fell in.
I did google the site and you can see it there.


Cheers Kev.

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Thanks Peter a little astronomy in there as well.
Cheers Kev.

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

I used to have nightmares about burning holes in the ground when I was a kid. Good thing I didn't know about it then. I would still be in therapy. Probably should be.

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

I used to have nightmares about burning holes in the ground when I was a kid. Good thing I didn't know about it then. I would still be in therapy. Probably should be.

You would of shuddered when you saw them pics then Peter.
Cheers Kev.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Sounds to me like the beginnings of an epic pier for an observatory.

H

[Jen]

wow the pics look cool