5 Incredible Places Where You Can Find Hell on Earth
5 Incredible Places Where You Can Find Hell on Earth
The Door to Hell
In the middle of Turkmenistan's expansive Karakum Desert near the village of Derweze lies a massive fiery crater...
The Door to Hell
Soviet petrochemical scientists opened this "Door to Hell" in 1971 when they accidentally drilled into a cavernous pocket of natural gas...
The Door to Hell
...causing the ground beneath the drill rig to collapse into a massive 70m (230ft) wide hole.
The Door to Hell
Fearing a release of poisonous methane gas scientists set the hole on fire, expecting the gas to burn away in a few days.
The Door to Hell
However, the 70ft (21m) deep hole continues to burn today, nearly half a century later...
The Door to Hell
5 Incredible Places Where You Can Find Hell on Earth
Dasht-e Lut Desert, Iran
The Dasht-e Lut desert ("Emptiness Desert") is a large salt desert in southeastern Iran.
Dasht-e Lut Desert, Iran
With an area of about 51800 square kilometers (20000 square miles), it is the 25th largest desert in the world.
Dasht-e Lut Desert, Iran
Formerly sculpted by ancient waterways and now shaped by the wind, the desert features large parallel ridges, sink holes, and sand dunes 300m (980ft) high.
Dasht-e Lut Desert, Iran
The hottest part of the Dasht-e Lut is the Gandom Beryan - a name meaning "toasted wheat" due to the local legend that a load of wheat was scorched by the intense heat.
Dasht-e Lut Desert, Iran
NASA satellites have confirmed that this dark, lava-covered plateau is the hottest land surface on Earth, with temperatures reaching 70.7 C (159.3 F).
Dasht-e Lut Desert, Iran
5 Incredible Places Where You Can Find Hell on Earth
Erta Ale, Ethiopia
Known as "the smoking mountain" and "the gateway to hell," Erta Ale is an active basaltic shield volcano in the Afar Region of northeastern Ethiopia.
Erta Ale, Ethiopia
Located in the Danakil Depression, it is one of the driest, lowest, and hottest places on Earth, with temperatures as high as 118 F (48 C).
Erta Ale, Ethiopia
Rising 2011 feet (613 meters) high, the volcano itself is completely surrounded by an area below sea level.
Erta Ale, Ethiopia
Erta Ale has been continuously erupting since 1967, and it is one of only five volcanoes in the world with an active lava lake.
Erta Ale, Ethiopia
It is notable for having the longest-existing lava lake, fed by an enormous pool of active magma beneath and present since its discovery in 1906.
Erta Ale, Ethiopia
5 Incredible Places Where You Can Find Hell on Earth
Centralia, Pennsylvania
Located atop rich veins of anthracite coal, Centralia is a mining town formerly home to nearly 2000 people in the 1950s.
Centralia, Pennsylvania
Beneath the town burns a massive coal seam fire that started in 1962...
Centralia, Pennsylvania
...when the fire department set fire to the town's landfill in an ill-fated attempt to clean it for Memorial Day celebrations.
Centralia, Pennsylvania
Today, the town is a ghost town, dotted with dangerous sinkholes and vents of poisonous gases amid the abandoned buildings and buckled streets.
Centralia, Pennsylvania
5 Incredible Places Where You Can Find Hell on Earth
Dallol, Ethiopia
Also located in the Afar Region of the Danakil Depression, the Dallol volcanic explosion crater in Ethiopia is one of the most unique places on Earth.
Dallol, Ethiopia
The nearby town has an elevation of 130, (427ft) below sea-level, and it is the hottest inhabited location on Earth...
Dallol, Ethiopia
...with an average annual temperature of 35 C (96 F) between the years 1960 and 1966.
Dallol, Ethiopia
The volcano, which last erupted in 1926, is surrounded by acidic hot springs, mountains of sulfur, pillars of salt, and small gas geysers.
Dallol, Ethiopia
It is one of the most remote places on Earth, with the only regular transport provided by camel caravans which travel there to collect salt...
Dallol, Ethiopia
