
Darvaza Crater: The Eternal Flame in the Karakum Desert That Has Been Burning Since 1971
In the middle of the Karakum Desert, Turkmenistan, the 70-meter-wide Darvaza gas crater has been burning since a deliberate fire in 1971 โ caused by a Soviet drilling failure. This phenomenon is not only a tourist attraction but also an open-air geochemical laboratory for the study of methane, climate emissions, and the resilience of Earth's systems to human disturbances.
