As oil continues to flood into the Gulf of Mexico, we are reminded of just how environmentally destructive humans can be. But this isn't the first time a drilling rig has caused a major catastrophe, and oil spills and carbon emissions aren't the only way in which people ruin the environment. Here are 11 unusual, obscure and bizarre environmental disaster areas, courtesy of the Atlas Obscura.
The Gates Of Hell, Turkmenistan
In the desert in Turkmenistan is a hole 328 ft. wide that has been on fire, continuously, for 38 years. In 1971, a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, causing the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in. Poisonous fumes began leaking from the hole. To head off a potential deadly catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole aflame.
The Sidoarjo Mud Volcano
In May 2006, gas drilling on the Indonesian island of Java triggered a "mud volcano" killing 13 people. Since then, hot sulfuric mud has been continually gushing from the ground in Sidoarjo. The steaming pool of mud already covers more than 25 square kilometers and is growing at an estimated 50,000 cubic meters--the equivalent of a dozen Olympic swimming pools--every day. Scientists expect the mud volcano to continue erupting for another 30 years.
Picher, Oklahoma
Called the most toxic place in the United States by the EPA, it was once the world's richest lead and zinc mining field, and home to 20,000 people. Now fewer than 25 people remain. Acidic water seeped up from the underground mining tunnels and turned the creek that runs through the area red and poisonous. The deteriorating underground mines threaten to swallow the streets whole, and mountains of mining waste contaminated with lead loom over the empty town
The Aral Sea, Kazakhstan
Soviet irrigation projects stemming from the Aral Sea have slowly drained the water level of this once great sea. Today, the sea is nearly dry and has separated into two much smaller seas. Fishing boats sit aground, rusting in a vast, contaminated desert wasteland.
The Berkeley Pit, Montana
In November 1995, a flock of migrating snow geese landed on the Berkeley Pit Lake, a copper mine filled with more than 40 billion gallons of acidic water and heavy metals . After several days of stormy weather and fog that prevented the birds from leaving, 342 were found dead. The State of Montana determined that excessive exposure to Pit water had corroded the birds’ esophagi.
Guiyu, China
China's biggest e-waste village, here electronic trash is dissembled by hand to extract wires and valuable parts. Circuit boards are burned, cooked and soaked in acid to extract scraps of precious metals. These methods, along with pollution from the e-waste itself, have made Guiyu the world's second-most polluted place on the planet.
The Garbage Patch, Pacific Ocean
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest landfill in the world, though "landfill" isn't exactly the right word for it. The garbage patch, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex, consists of 3.5 million tons of trash -- 90% of which is plastic debris -- that is swirling between Hawaii and California. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas.
Cactus Dome, Marshall Islands
In the late 1970s, in an effort to clean up the radioactive debris left by the nuclear test explosions in the Marshall Islands, the U.S. government dug up 111,000 cubic yards of radioactive soil and deposited it on Runit Island into a 350-foot wide crater left by the nuclear tests. An enormous, foot-and-a-half-thick, 100,000-square-foot dome consisting of 358 gigantic concrete panels was built over the site. It cost the government nearly a quarter of a billion dollars and took three years to complete. The area is still radioactive.
In the late 1970s, in an effort to clean up the radioactive debris left by the nuclear test explosions in the Marshall Islands, the U.S. government dug up 111,000 cubic yards of radioactive soil and deposited it on Runit Island into a 350-foot wide crater left by the nuclear tests. An enormous, foot-and-a-half-thick, 100,000-square-foot dome consisting of 358 gigantic concrete panels was built over the site. It cost the government nearly a quarter of a billion dollars and took three years to complete. The area is still radioactive.
Nauru, Micronesia
Decades of strip mining for phosphorus have devastated over 80 percent of Nauru's land, leaving it a barren wasteland of jagged limestone pinnacles up to 49 ft. high. With its reserves depleted, the country's economy collapsed, and the devastation left by strip mining mostly eliminated the chance of establishing a tourist industry. Today Nauru has just a 150-meter-wide strip of fertile land left along one of it shores.
Decades of strip mining for phosphorus have devastated over 80 percent of Nauru's land, leaving it a barren wasteland of jagged limestone pinnacles up to 49 ft. high. With its reserves depleted, the country's economy collapsed, and the devastation left by strip mining mostly eliminated the chance of establishing a tourist industry. Today Nauru has just a 150-meter-wide strip of fertile land left along one of it shores.
Centralia, Pennsylvania
The massive coal fire underneath Centralia,
Pennsylvania ignited sometime in 1962 and has been burning since. National awareness of Centralia's unending environmental catastrophe came in 1981 when a 12-year-old boy fell into a 150-foot hole that suddenly appeared in his back yard. Most residents were relocated in 1984, and in 1992 the entire town was condemne
The massive coal fire underneath Centralia,
Pennsylvania ignited sometime in 1962 and has been burning since. National awareness of Centralia's unending environmental catastrophe came in 1981 when a 12-year-old boy fell into a 150-foot hole that suddenly appeared in his back yard. Most residents were relocated in 1984, and in 1992 the entire town was condemne
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