Derweze -Surroundings- Darvaza gas crater - 2015

Darvaza (from , ) is a rural council (village council) in Ak bugdaý District,

Ahal Province Ahal Region (; from , also ) is one of five provinces of Turkmenistan. It is in the south-center of the country, bordering Iran and Afghanistan along the Kopet Dag Range. Its area is and population 886,845 (2022 census).''Statistical Yearbook ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

of about 2 thousand inhabitants, located in the middle of the

Karakum Desert The Karakum Desert ( ; rus, Каракумы, p=kərɐˈkumɨ), also spelt and (; ), is a desert in Central Asia. The name refers to the shale-rich sand beneath the surface. It occupies about 70 percent, or roughly , of Turkmenistan. The po ...

, about 260 km north of

Ashgabat Ashgabat (Turkmen language, Turkmen: ''Aşgabat'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag, Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, approximately 50 km (30 ...

. The rural council consists of three separate villages: Derweze (formerly 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 8th century. The tribe is called the Turka by explorer Alexander Burnes in his 1834 book ...

, preserving a

semi-nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pas ...

lifestyle. In 2004 the village was disbanded following the order of the President of Turkmenistan,

Saparmurat Niyazov Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov (19 February 1940 – 21 December 2006) was a Turkmenistani politician who led Turkmenistan from 1985 until his death in 2006. He was the Secretary (title), first secretary of the Communist Party of Turkmenist ...

, because "it was an unpleasant sight for tourists." The village was reestablished, by the renaming of "Aeroport" village to Derweze on 28 April 2016.

Transportation

The Darvaza area is served by the Ashgabat-Dashoguz Automobile Highway and the Içoguz station on the Trans-Karakum Railway. A landing strip for small cargo aircraft is located at the village of Derweze.

Darvaza gas crater

The Darvaza area is rich in

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

. 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