The Door to Hell is a continually burning crater located in remote Turkmenistan. It is a crater in
a large natural gas field that has been burning for decades. It is said that a Soviet oil rig fell into
the crater in 1971, and a geologist decided to get rid of the rig by setting the pit on fire. The
resulting gas-fed flames continue burning to this day. Adventurer George Kourounis describes
being the first person to enter the Door to Hell and what he found when he reached the bottom.
Explorer and adventurer George Kourounis has had many memorable experiences in nature’s
extreme environments—chasing tornadoes across the American Midwest, swimming
with piranhas in Venezuela, even getting married on a crater of an erupting volcano in the South
Pacific. But a recent trek to remote Turkmenistan may be one of his most exciting expeditions. It
was probably the only expedition where he admitted to feeling “a bit like a baked potato.”
One might think that rappelling into a burning pit would be the main challenge of this
expedition, but Kourounis notes that his crew met another formidable obstacle earlier on. The
biggest goal was just getting permission to get into the country because Turkmenistan is one of
the most closed countries in the world. The crew finally gained entry into Turkmenistan in 2013
after two years of trying to get into the country. Kourounis says the crater, which is about 76
meters (250 feet) wide, looks like a volcano in the middle of the desert.
It is burning with a tremendous amount of flame like there is a lot of fire down there. Day or
night, it is clearly burning. One can hear the roar of the fire if you stand at the edge. The heat, if
you are downwind of it, is unbearable. There are thousands of little flames all around the edges
and towards the centre.
Before rappelling into the burning pit, Kourounis says he got his equipment in order. This
included a custom-made climbing harness made out of Kevlar, a self-contained breathing
apparatus (similar to scuba gear), fire-resistant ropes, and an otherworldly heat-resistant
suit. They [the suits] look like aluminum foil and actually that makes sense because they are
made from an aluminized fabric. These suits are used by some fire fighters as well as steel-mill
workers and volcanologists, any occupation where you need to be close to intense heat. They
reflect a lot of the radiant heat, but you still get pretty hot inside. Another very specialized piece
of equipment that Kourounis brought to Turkmenistan was a heat probe designed by
the engineers who build National Geographic’s Crittercams.
The most important part of the mission and the whole thrust behind this entire expedition was to
take some samples of the soil at the bottom—sand, basically—and see if there is
any extremophile bacteria living at the bottom that could give us clues to basically life in these
extreme environments. There are planets that have been discovered outside of our solar
system that have a very hot, methane-rich environment kind of similar to what is in the crater.
So, in essence, they were looking for alien life right here on Earth.
7
The soil samples were given to Dr. Stefan Green, the microbiologist on the expedition. Green
says that a few kinds of bacteria were discovered in the soil from the crater floor. These
extremophiles appear to be what Green calls “enriched” by the Door to Hell’s high temperature
and low nutrient levels, among other things.
(a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes by using headings and subheadings. Use recognisable abbreviations wherever necessary. (5 Marks)
(b) Write a summary of the passage in not more than 50 words using the notes made and also
suggest a suitable title.
Answers
Answer:
The Door to Hell is a continually burning crater located in remote Turkmenistan. It is a crater in
a large natural gas field that has been burning for decades. It is said that a Soviet oil rig fell into
the crater in 1971, and a geologist decided to get rid of the rig by setting the pit on fire. The
resulting gas-fed flames continue burning to this day. Adventurer George Kourounis describes
being the first person to enter the Door to Hell and what he found when he reached the bottom.
Explorer and adventurer George Kourounis has had many memorable experiences in nature’s
extreme environments—chasing tornadoes across the American Midwest, swimming
with piranhas in Venezuela, even getting married on a crater of an erupting volcano in the South
Pacific. But a recent trek to remote Turkmenistan may be one of his most exciting expeditions. It
was probably the only expedition where he admitted to feeling “a bit like a baked potato.”
One might think that rappelling into a burning pit would be the main challenge of this
expedition, but Kourounis notes that his crew met another formidable obstacle earlier on. The
biggest goal was just getting permission to get into the country because Turkmenistan is one of
the most closed countries in the world. The crew finally gained entry into Turkmenistan in 2013
after two years of trying to get into the country. Kourounis says the crater, which is about 76
meters (250 feet) wide, looks like a volcano in the middle of the desert.
It is burning with a tremendous amount of flame like there is a lot of fire down there. Day or
night, it is clearly burning. One can hear the roar of the fire if you stand at the edge. The heat, if
you are downwind of it, is unbearable. There are thousands of little flames all around the edges
and towards the centre.
Before rappelling into the burning pit, Kourounis says he got his equipment in order. This
included a custom-made climbing harness made out of Kevlar, a self-contained breathing
apparatus (similar to scuba gear), fire-resistant ropes, and an otherworldly heat-resistant
suit. They [the suits] look like aluminum foil and actually that makes sense because they are
made from an aluminized fabric. These suits are used by some fire fighters as well as steel-mill
workers and volcanologists, any occupation where you need to be close to intense heat. They
reflect a lot of the radiant heat, but you still get pretty hot inside. Another very specialized piece
of equipment that Kourounis brought to Turkmenistan was a heat probe designed by
the engineers who build National Geographic’s Crittercams.
The most important part of the mission and the whole thrust behind this entire expedition was to
take some samples of the soil at the bottom—sand, basically—and see if there is
any extremophile bacteria living at the bottom that could give us clues to basically life in these
extreme environments. There are planets that have been discovered outside of our solar
system that have a very hot, methane-rich environment kind of similar to what is in the crater.
So, in essence, they were looking for alien life right here on Earth.
7
The soil samples were given to Dr. Stefan Green, the microbiologist on the expedition. Green
says that a few kinds of bacteria were discovered in the soil from the crater floor. These
extremophiles appear to be what Green calls “enriched” by the Door to Hell’s high temperature
and low nutrient levels, among other things.
(a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes by using headings and subheadings. Use recognisable abbreviations wherever necessary. (5 Marks)
(b) Write a summary of the passage in not more than 50 words using the notes made and also
suggest a suitable title.