🔥 Turkmenistan's Gates of Hell Crater Is Running Out of Gas

Turkmenistan's "Gates of Hell," a 70-meter-wide gas crater that has burned for over 50 years, is finally diminishing.

The Darvaza crater formed in 1971 when Soviet geologists drilling for natural gas accidentally punctured an underground cavern, causing a ground collapse that created a 70-meter-wide, 30-meter-deep crater. Scientists ignited the methane to prevent toxic gas escape, expecting it to burn out within weeks.

Instead, the crater has burned continuously for five decades, fueled by vast methane reserves from the Amu-Darya Basin below.

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