Free Republic

In Siberia, there is a huge crater commonly known as the gateway to hell. Scientists think they have a lot to learn about our planet’s future from this crater. Credit: Contains Modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2020 – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 In the cold and unhospitable environment of Siberia, a giant hole is breaking open the land. This hole has the shape of a stingray, and it is viewable from space. The story of this “Gateway to Hell” in Siberia dates back to the Cold War, as shown by declassified imagery from the 1960s, when it was barely visible. Now,...

Turkmenistan's president has ordered the government to find a way to extinguish a colossal gas fire burning since the 1970s. Dubbed the "Gates of Hell," the fire was rumored to be started deliberately in 1971 when a gas-drilling site collapsed into a gas reservoir, and geologists decided to set it on fire to keep the methane from spewing into the atmosphere—in the expectation that the fire would die out on its own in a few weeks. It didn't. The crater currently measures more than 230 feet by 65 feet and is a major tourist attraction in Turkmenistan, which has proven...