Derweze -Surroundings- Darvaza gas crater - 2015

Darvaza (from fa, دروازه, literally "gate"; tk, Derweze) is a rural council (village council) in

Ak bugdaý District Ak bugdaý District is a district of Ahal Province in Turkmenistan. It was founded in April 1977 as Gäwers District, with its center on the urban-type settlement of Anau. Abolished in August 1988, it was restored in 1992 as part of Ahal, where ...

, Ahal Province,

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

of about 350 inhabitants, located in the middle of the

Karakum Desert The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : " ...

, about 260 km north of

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lie ...

. The rural council consists of three separate villages: Aeroport (the administrative center), Ataguýy, and Böri. Darvaza's inhabitants are mostly Turkmen of the

Teke tribe Teke is a major and politically influential tribe of Turkmens in Turkmenistan. History The Oghuz forebears of the Teke migrated to Transoxiana in the 7th century. Lieutenant Colonel C.E. Stuart reported that in the 1830s the Teke tribe beg ...

, preserving a

semi-nomadic A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the p ...

lifestyle. In 2004 the village was disbanded following the order of the President of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, because "it was an unpleasant sight for tourists."

Transportation

The Darvaza area is served by the Ashgabat-Dashoguz Automobile Highway and the Içoguz station on the

Trans-Karakum Railway The Trans-Karakum Railway is a long railway in the central Asian republic of Turkmenistan. The railway was officially completed on 19 February 2006. The railway took over 1,500 workers more than five years to build, with 800 contractors working i ...

. A landing strip for small cargo aircraft is located at the village of Aeroport.

Darvaza gas crater

Turquoise Lake Crater - Turkmenistan, Darvaza - panoramio

Mud Crater - Turkmenistan, Darvaza - panoramio

The Darvaza area is rich in

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

. While drilling in 1971, Soviet geologists tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas. The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of at . The fire may have originated from a local Soviet decision to avoid poisonous gas discharge, by burning off the gas, and while geologists had hoped the fire would consume the fuel in a few days, the gas is still burning fifty years later. Locals have named the crater the "Door to Hell".

References

External links

Photos from the Darvaza Gas Crater or "Gates of Hell"

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Au bord du cratère de Darvaza
Populated places in Ahal Region {{Turkmenistan-geo-stub

Transportation

Darvaza gas crater

See also

References

External links