The Gates of Hell brightens the night skies of the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan. To many, it remains a mystery.
George Kournounis traveled to the center of Gates of Hell, and he told AccuWeather that it “is one of the most interesting places on Earth.”
The pit is one hundred feet deep and two hundred and thirty feet wide, it was created when a drilling rig collapsed into a sinkhole leaking methane while prospectors were looking for natural gas.
No one has been able to verify if the blaze was set intentionally or not, it has burned for nearly half a century.
“It almost looks like a volcano out in the middle of the desert,” Kournounis said in the interview.
Kournounis is the only person who is known to have descended into the center of the crater. During an expedition he led for National Geographic, he took soil samples at the bottom in 2013.
The crater functions like a convection oven, colder air sinks to the bottom in the center and heats up at the bottom from the fire, allowing the hotter air to rise along the sides. Life in the form of bacteria was found, making the expedition a success.
