In 1971 Soviet drilling engineers accidentally created this desert's "Door (*) to Hell," a crater where a natural gas fire has been burning since.
Tiebreaker: This desert's village of Darvaza is the site of three artificially created craters, including the "Mud Crater" and the relatively uninteresting "Water Crater." In 1881 general Mikhail Skobelev successfully besieged this desert's fort of Geok Tepe, allowing his compatriots to conquer the nearby oasis city of MervÂ three years later. In 1971 Soviet drilling engineers accidentally created this desert's "Door (*) to Hell," a crater where a natural gas fire has been burning since. During the Cold War, this desert's namesake canal was built to facilitate cotton cultivation, draining the Amu Darya River and ► shrinking the Aral Sea to the north as a result. For 10 points, name this Turkmenistani desert that lies southwest of the similarly named Kyzyl Kum Desert.
Tiebreaker: This desert's village of Darvaza is the site of three artificially created craters, including the "Mud Crater" and the relatively uninteresting "Water Crater.
Karakum Desert