The Door to Hell. What is it ?

The Door to hell is also called as Gates of Hell or Darvaza gas crater. The door hell is in Turkmenistan derweze region. The Door to hell makes many people curious how it created what was it in real how and why the fire is burning inside it all the answer will be given in this topic. When and how it was created is it harmful or not all questions will be included so Let's Start :

What is it ?

The First question arises in everyone's mind is what is the Door to Hell ? So simply it is a natural gas field which gets collapsed into a cavern. And yes it not volcanic and not the Magma. It is located in Derweze, Ahal province Turkmenistan. And this is always burning because of presence of Methane gas in it. This gas is continuously burning there which prevent it's exploration from getting into the atmosphere. And this thing was man made. And the name "The Door to Hell" was given by the locals, referring to the fire, boiling mud, and orange flames in the large crater.

How and When It was Created/ discovered ? 

It was created in 1971 well the intentions were different but it was eventually created. This whole started from the Soviet Union back in 1971 when Turkmenistan was also part of this. The Scientist of USSR did a research in this area and found that in this area there is presence of Mineral oil and so to get more information about it the they started digging at this place. As finding a natural gas reservoir is very important for any country.  But before the digging was not completed it came to know that there was no oil but the natural gas is present here and that's why digging stopped. But after some time an accident happened at the drilling area and the whole camp collapsed into a big well like structure. No one were killed here but this incidence make the engineers job more difficult because the gas which was till now underground started to came out. And as this gas is very harmful for animals, humans and our environment so it need to be stopped or destroyed. So after this the research started on this after this gas leakage to stop it and then after some meetings with the officials the decision was made to set it on fire to destroy it in a hope that after sometime when when the gas is over then the fire will automatically stopped and the people also need not to suffer. And with this thought the Engineers set this place on fire and they believe that this fire after few weeks will automatically set down. But here they made a mistake that they didn't check the quantity and without it they sat it on fire but this area was one of the biggest natural gas reservoirs on earth. So even after so many years from 1971 till now this fire continuous and still burning.And there is also egg like smell which is produced by hydrogen sulfide present in the ground. The diameter of this hole is about 226 feet and the around 98 feet deep. So that's how "The Door to Hell" was created. 

Is it Harmful ?

The answer to that question is yes it can be harmful if it remain in the same condition without setting it on fire. As no one know how many and what kind of gases were presented there at that time. If those gases like Methane, hydrogen sulfide and many more were exposed to environment then it could have been a huge disaster for lives of  animals and the natural vegetation. But now it is not since it's burning the gases which are coming out are continuously burning so there is no exposure of these gases to the environment so there is no harm.  

Present Day Condition :

So in present it is still burning with that same intensity. In the day time the flames were not that much visible and looks like normal pit. But in night the views are totally different as the fire flames can be seen easily. Now a days it has become the famous tourist attraction in the Turkmenistan ans has a huge contribution in their GDP. This place is visited by thousands of people from all over the world to experience the view and presence of the feel there. This gives jobs to many people there and become a part of their income. People take a look of this from far away distance but for first time George Kourounis who is a Canadian adventure storm chaser go in to take the sample of Extremophiles microorganism there. When he goes there the temperature is more than 1000 degrees and goes into that temperature. And if you are also an adventure lover you can also visit here. And for the future of this crater and the surrounding natural gas reservoir many safety measure have been taken already to protect them form this crater. 

So this was all about this "Door To Hell" topic and you can also visit here to see it as no one know how much gas is still in there. So i hope you all learn something new in this topic and if you like then please share. 

Thank You