Soviet drilling rig accident in 1971

In 1971, Turkmenistan was a part of the Soviet Union. Not far from the village of Derweze (in Russian, it is Darvaza), a Soviet drilling rig hit an underground cavern, which subsequently collapsed and formed a deep pit, almost a hundred meters across. It was spewing toxic gases. [pdf]

FAQS about Soviet drilling rig accident in 1971

How did Soviet crater avert a natural disaster?

Geologists devised an audacious plan to avert a natural disaster and stop the fumes from poisoning the residents of neighboring villages. Soviet scientists set the crater on fire shortly after it erupted in the hopes that the flames would burn off the methane gas in a few weeks.

What happened to a gas hazard pit?

It was spewing toxic gases. In order to contain the hazard, the gases were set alight, with the expectation that the gas would burn off in a few days. A few decades later, though, the pit is still on fire.

Did the Soviets burn a fire in the Karakum Desert?

There are no written Soviet records, no logs, no official drilling reports, and no confirmation that they'd lit it intentionally – but there's no disputing a ~100-foot-deep (~30-m), 226-foot-wide (69-m) pit of relentless fiery fury that's been burning for around 50 years in the Karakum Desert of Turkmenistan.

Did explorer George Kourounis ever descend to the bottom of the pit?

Explorer George Kourounis, the first man to descend to the bottom of the pit in November 2013, tells Sarah Durn of Atlas Obscura that even seemingly logical fixes might prove futile.

Down hole hammer drill rig

A down-the-hole drill, usually called DTH Drilling Rig, is basically a mini jackhammer screwed on the bottom of a drill string. The speedy hammer activity breaks hard stone into little flakes and dust and can be dismissed evident by the air exhaust in the DTH hammer. [pdf]

Down the hole drill

A down-the-hole drill, usually called DTH by most professionals, is basically a jackhammer screwed on the bottom of a drill string. The fast hammer action breaks hard rock into small cuttings and dust that are evacuated by a fluid (air, water or drilling mud). The DTH hammer is one of the fastest ways to drill. . DTH is short for “down-the-hole”. Since the DTH method was originally developed to drill large-diameter holes downwards in surface-drilling. . A is first thought to have been used for rock drilling in 1844. Many quarries used hand held tools that required the driller to suspend himself from a rope over the. . In DTH drilling, the percussion mechanism – commonly called the hammer – is located directly above the drill bit. The drill pipes transmit the necessary feed force and rotation to the hammer and the bit, along with the fluid (air, water or drilling mud) used to. . DTH products can be used in the following applications:• Mining- drill and blast holes in open pit mining, where the drill operator will drill several holes, then. [pdf]