The methane leak pit, also known as the “Gateway to Hell,” has been burning for about 50 years and is difficult to manage because simply covering the pit will not stop the gas from escaping and harming the environment.
Ten years ago, National Geographic explorer George Kourounis climbed into the Gateway to Hell. The pit, which is 30 meters deep and 70 meters wide, is located in the central northern region of Turkmenistan and is officially called the Darvaza crater (named after a nearby village). However, the nickname “Gateway to Hell” more accurately describes the phenomenon: a pit filled with methane that caught fire decades ago in a remote area of the Karakum Desert and has been burning ever since. In 2013, Kourounis became the first person to climb into the burning pit. After two years of planning, he had only 17 minutes to collect gas data and soil samples before he had to escape. “Those 17 minutes are etched in my mind. It was much scarier, hotter, and larger than I thought,” Kourounis told National Geographic.
The expedition drew worldwide attention to the Darvaza crater. The Turkmenistan government once announced plans to extinguish the flames permanently caused by the methane before deciding to abandon the Gateway to Hell.
With its vast oil and gas reserves, Turkmenistan has numerous industrial areas where methane, a potent greenhouse gas, leaks into the atmosphere. Earlier this summer, the U.S. and Turkmenistan governments discussed ways to collaborate to seal these areas, potentially including the Darvaza pit. However, extinguishing the fire is no easy task. “The process can go wrong. I am very concerned about the risk of an explosion,” said Guillermo Rein, a fire scientist at Imperial College London.
Despite its terrifying appearance, the Darvaza pit is not particularly unusual. Also known as “Karakum Light” in Turkmen, the pit is situated in the Amu-Darya Basin, a geological formation containing an undetermined amount of oil and natural gas, primarily methane. Most of the methane escapes from the Earth’s crust. If ignited, it will burn until the fuel, heat source, or oxygen-rich air is depleted. Typically, methane in the region is extracted by the oil and gas industry or leaks above ground or underwater unnoticed.
Environmentalists and the Turkmenistan government are increasingly paying attention to the Darvaza fire pit due to its contributions to climate change, Newsweek reported on June 21. The Darvaza fire pit, dubbed Turkmenistan’s “Gateway to Hell,” has been emitting methane into the atmosphere for about 50 years.
The Darvaza fire pit, known as the “Gateway to Hell” of Turkmenistan. (Photo: Giles Clarke).
Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a greenhouse gas that is 80 times more potent than CO2 in the first 20 years it enters the atmosphere, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
“As far as I know, the pit formed during the Soviet era when the Soviet Union attempted to drill for natural gas here. At that time, drilling technology was not advanced enough, and the rig collapsed, causing natural gas to begin escaping into the atmosphere instead of being captured,” said Stefan Green, director of the Microbial Ecology and Genetics Facility at Rush University in the U.S.
Subsequently, the pit was set on fire, although it remains unclear if this was intentional. “If it was intentional, the goal may have been to burn off the gas rather than let it escape uncontrollably,” Green noted.
The Darvaza fire pit is 70 meters wide and 20 meters deep. In 2022, the President of Turkmenistan instructed officials to find ways to extinguish the fire and capture the escaping methane. “Uncontrolled natural gas emissions are an environmental disaster, and burning it does provide some benefit. This way, methane is converted into CO2. The release of CO2 is also harmful to global warming, but not as harmful as methane,” Green explained.
One of the popular proposals is to fill the pit. However, Green argues that this method is unlikely to resolve the situation. “Basically, you have a large-scale gas leak. Unless you seal the leak, filling the pit is useless because gas will still escape. I believe filling the pit will not stop the leaks. To prevent leaks, it may be necessary to drill some holes near the pit to pull gas out of the pit,” he stated.
Moreover, focusing too much on filling the pit could distract from addressing the main sources of methane emissions in Turkmenistan. This is one of the largest methane-emitting countries in the world, primarily due to leaks from oil and gas production, with emissions equivalent to over 70 million tons of CO2 each year, according to the Our World In Data website.
