The story of "Gates of Hell"... a decades-old mystery لغز
A vast magmatic crater in the Turkmen desert, known as the "Gates of Hell", has been raging for decades, but the crater's origin is shrouded in complete secrecy.
The scorching sand dunes of the Karakum Desert, which cover 70% of Turkmenistan's area, are within sight. You may roam this 350,000 square kilometer dry, badlands for days and only see the tops of the countless sandy hills and valleys of the arid Karakum Desert.
But as soon as you make your way north of the middle of the desert, you will find in front of you a scene that looks like from another world, represented by the Darvasa crater, a molten gas crater that has been burning for decades, known as the "Gates of Hell".
According to an extensive report by the BBC, the origin of this hole dates back to 1971, when Soviet geologists were prospecting for oil in the desert, and then their equipment hit one of the pockets of natural gas, which led to the collapse of the earth and the formation of three large holes.
It is rumored that geologists set fires in one of the craters, to prevent methane from escaping from the crater into the atmosphere, and they believed that the fires would be extinguished after the gas ran out of the crater within weeks.
But when Canadian explorer George Corones set out on his first trip to probe the depths of the crater in 2013, he discovered that no one knew how this crater was burning like hell.
Turkmen geologists say that the crater, which is 69 meters wide and 30 meters deep, was formed in the 1960s and only caught fire in the 1980s.
Because gas and oil in Turkmenistan gained great importance in the era of the Soviet Union, it seems that no records
Documenting the origins of this crater has been classified as classified information and has been kept under wraps.
But what is certain is that this burning crater that spews methane has become one of the most important tourist destinations in this country, which is visited by only about 6000 tourists annually.
Over the past decade, people have come from far and wide to see the sight of these blazing fires lighting up the desert sky, while the sun descends behind the sand dunes of the Karakum Desert.
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