Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Darvaza: The Burning Gates

In 1971 a search for gas went wrong when a whole drilling rig fell into an underground cavern. Natural gas started coming up from the hole. It was set alight so it wouldn't kill everything around. For 35 years now the flames keep burning providing an spectacular seen for tourists. At night the burning gas makes the crater seen from miles away. The crater is located in Turkmenistan in the heart of the Karakum desert. The crater is called Darvaza or The Burning Gates.
















14 comments:

Anonymous said...

What are the photos at the bottom that aren't burning?

Anonymous said...

It looks to be full of water in the bottom shots.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I second the above comment. You got some splainin to do.

Matt Blank said...

This is what happens when people take photos from other webpages. The top set of photos are of the burning crater. The other cavern photos are from a desert water sinkhole. The original source of these photos is http://www.johnhbradley.com/pictures2.asp?var=070707darvaza

Anonymous said...

No, in the bottom two; the hole is closed for mantinence. Hope that clears up any confusion.

Anonymous said...

If you look at the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th images you can see the internal structure of the burning hole. If you look from that, to the daytime images, you can tell that they're two different things. The daytime images also have a fence around them, where the burning hole does not, because apparently fire is safer than water or something.

Also, Matt Blank provided a link to the original images.

Anonymous said...

Nice catch Matt, I'm so sick of every blog'tard ripping off other peoples content and not even bothering to give credit. Its the American way I guess.

Canadianbrian said...

Jesus what a waste of energy - build a massive cap and fly it over the top. It would probably pay for itself in no time :)

Chris said...

Anonymous said...

Nice catch Matt, I'm so sick of every blog'tard ripping off other peoples content and not even bothering to give credit. Its the American way I guess.
March 25, 2008 3:04 PM
yeah, that's the american way, and the backward-ass 3rd world way is to let almost 40 years worth of natural gas continue to burn freely from this hole in the ground

Azad said...

'Darvaza' is a Dari word that simply means 'Gate'. It doesn't mean The Burning Gate(s) or anything + Gates.

Anonymous said...

darvaza just means door or gate :s not burning gate...

Anonymous said...

yet another great way to let our earth's resources go to waste. way to go.

Anonymous said...

In spanish:
http://clubtrotamundos.blogspot.com/2008/01/crteres-ardiendo-en-turkmenistn.html

Anonymous said...

LOL @ MY PENIS