Where is Darvaza gas crater?

The Darvaza gas crater also known as the Door to Hell or Gates of Hell, is a natural gas field collapsed into a cavern near Darvaza, Turkmenistan.

The gas crater is near the village of Darvaza, also known as Derweze. It is in the middle of the Karakum Desert, about 260 kilometres (160 mi) north of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. The gas reserve found here is one of the largest in the world. The name “Door to Hell” was given to the field by the locals, referring to the fire, boiling mud, and orange flames in the large crater, which has a diameter of 70 metres (230 ft). The hot spots range over an area with a width of 60 metres (200 ft) and to a depth of about 20 metres (66 ft).

The crater was featured in an episode of the National Geographic Channel series Die Trying. In the July 16, 2014, episode “Crater of Fire”, explorer George Kourounis became the first person to set foot at the bottom, gathering samples of extremophile microorganisms. An edited photograph of the crater was also released as publicity for the then-upcoming 2014 Godzilla film, with the image depicting MONARCH agents and vehicles investigating the site.

Although the crater has captured public imagination as a mystery and has been named the “Gates of Hell”, the crater is a simple geological anomaly; a superficial gas pocket which allowed the ground to sink into a natural depression, allowing the slowly escaping natural gas from a large deeper natural gas field to both accumulate and burn without being extinguished by the wind, or rapidly diluted. The gas from similar, smaller gas leaks in the area is rapidly dispersed by the desert wind. “Burning ground” sites where natural gas escaping from the ground has been ignited are found in other parts of the world.

Picture Credit : Google

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