Burning Well

The Burning Well is an artesian well in the village of Prikumsky, Chernozemelsky District, Republic of Kalmykia, near the 85K-1 highway. Pressurized groundwater containing hydrogen sulfide rises from it, and the escaping gas burns for a short while if lit.

Wells like this appeared in Kalmykia as a side effect of Soviet-era geological and oil-prospecting drilling: boreholes broke into pressurized aquifers with dissolved gas, leaving behind self-flowing wells whose gas can be set alight.

The site is little known and sees no tourism. A similar but far better known and more visited phenomenon exists near the village of Adyk.