Original subtitles

Narrator: They're watching you.

More than 4,000 satellites Circle the earth.

Every day, they uncover new, Mysterious phenomena

That defy explanation.

[ beeping, distorted music ]

Seen from the heavens,

A portal to the underworld And the fires of damnation.

Oh, my god. This is absolutely phenomenal.

Nazis unleash hell On the high seas.

Walters: they could have Actually bombed manhattan,

And that's A chilling thought.

Narrator: and good times In the garden of eden.

This included acts Of ritualistic sex

Between the king And these sacred priestesses.

Narrator: Baffling phenomena.

Mysteries from space.

What on earth are they?

**

**

-- captions by vitac -- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

August 22, 2013.

The landsat 8 satellite is Orbiting over southeast asia.

As it passes over The mountainous island of java,

It captures a strangely-colored Circular area.

When you look at this area, The thing that pops out

Is this amazingly Turquoise-blue lake

That seems to be steaming.

Narrator: reports from locals Around the weird gassy lake

In the image Add to the mystery.

At night, you see a bright Pillar of blue fire

Essentially coming out of The side of the mountain.

It looks like something You would see in a sci-fi film,

Not something that's happening Right here on earth.

Narrator: When scientist jess phoenix

Hears of the mysterious Electric-blue volcano,

She embarks on The 9,000-mile journey

From los angeles To jakarta, indonesia,

And from there, eastward across The island of java.

Phoenix: I've worked on A lot of volcanos

Around the world,

But I have never been On a volcano

That produces Blue lava.

The locals are talking About it,

So I really want to Get out there,

And have a look, and see what This blue lava is all about.

Narrator: for phoenix,

Penetrating the island's Mountain ranges

To reach the site in the image Won't be easy.

Phoenix: indonesia is one of The most seismically

And volcanically active areas In the world.

And just the last couple weeks We've had several earthquakes

Over the magnitude 6 On the island of lombok,

Which killed Over 450 people.

Narrator: Phoenix has heard the strange Blue fire only appears at night.

**

So, that evening, She begins her journey

Towards the volcano, Known locally as "Kawah ijen."

The terrain soon takes its toll On her vehicle.

[ car sputtering ]

[ speaking foreign language ]

Phoenix: yeah, no, You smell it?

The clutch Has burned out.

Yeah. Yeah.

[ car starts ]

I'm still gonna try it One more time.

It takes 40 minutes To get back on the road.

It's not until midnight That phoenix reaches

The lower slopes Of the volcano.

Is that him?

A local guide Has agreed to help phoenix

Find the site In the satellite image.

Hi. Are you ready...

-ready. -...To go up?

All right. Let's go. Yeah.

Guide: okay.

Phoenix and her guide must climb To 9,000 feet above sea level.

**

**

At this altitude, It's like someone has taken away

A quarter Of all the oxygen.

And waves of noxious Volcanic smog, called "Vog,"

Are spilling Down the slopes.

This is some Really dense vog.

The plume is kind of wafting This direction right now,

But I can kind of make out This really steep crater wall.

Phoenix and her guide Reach the crater's edge,

But there is no sign Of anything luminous and blue.

For that, they must descend Into this live volcano.

This means climbing 500 feet down

Through the dark Volcanic fumes.

**

Oh, my god.

That is amazing.

Rivers of blue cascading down The side of the crater wall.

I've never seen Anything like this.

This is absolutely Phenomenal.

Blue gleaming liquid fire giving Off powerful reeking fumes.

That is some nasty gas Coming out of there,

So I really need to put The gas mask on now.

**

As phoenix edges closer, The wind changes direction.

Oof. The rotten-egg smell Is just, like, right there.

It just hits you Upside the head.

The odor gives her a clue To what she's looking at.

That's actually sulfur that's Burning, and it's burning blue.

It's not blue lava, But it's definitely blue fire.

Sulfur is what the bible called "Brimstone."

This is the fire Of eternal damnation.

The book of isaiah Likens it to the breath of god.

Phoenix believes that, as the Superheated sulfuric gasses

Emerge from cracks In the volcano,

They combust with Oxygen in the air.

This gas that's Blowing past here?

This is gonna be carbon dioxide, Sulfur dioxide,

And hydrogen sulfide --

So, a mix of things That are pretty nasty.

Some of the gasses Cool and condense

Into burning Liquid sulfur,

Which flows down the slopes Like blue lava.

It is just absolutely Spectacular.

I mean, this is, Hands down,

One of the coolest things I've ever seen.

This seems like nature At its strangest,

And yet, as the clouds Of vog clear,

Phoenix notices something That is not natural.

There's actually pipes Around the blue fire.

Some people Have been here.

I want to Find out why.

Coming up...

Code red in The lone star state.

What we're really seeing is the Collapse of the texan landscape

In real time.

Narrator: and jess phoenix Enters the gates of hell.

The acid is so strong there, it Will literally melt your teeth.

**

Narrator: Scientist jess phoenix is on The island of java, indonesia,

Where she's witnessed Blue-lava-like liquid

Oozing from a volcano

And mysterious pipes Emerging from the ground.

A vivid gassy lake captured by Satellite sits nearby,

And she wonders whether It could help shed some light.

I can see what drew me here In the first place,

Which is the crazy Turquoise color of the lake.

So, I'm gonna go down and Investigate that a little bit.

Narrator: up close, the lake Appears even more otherworldly

Than in the image.

Phoenix: oh, wow.

This beauty, however, Conceals danger.

I'm suspicious Of touching this,

Because I can see that you've Got some steel barrels, there,

That are just Eaten through.

Phoenix checks the ph levels To gauge the water's acidity.

Phoenix: oh, my gosh. That dropped instantly.

0.26.

That is extremely Acidic water.

The lake is Four times more acidic

Than the stuff In your car battery.

It will reduce a human body To bare bones in hours.

This is The most acidic thing

That I personally have ever Tested in nature.

This is the largest acid lake On earth.

Nearby, phoenix finds a clue That could help explain

These caustic waters.

Phoenix believes The bubbles indicate

The lake sits on a sulfurous Vent called a "Solfatara."

The sulfur gasses From the magma chamber

Is gonna be coming up, and Injecting itself into this lake,

And it's making the water Really, really acidic.

The lake and volcano Look placid...

Until phoenix Rounds one corner.

It's a vision of hell.

**

And there appear To be people

Working among These infernal plumes.

**

What's your name?

Supeno. I'm jess.

Supeno tells phoenix that he and The others are sulfur miners.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

So, the pipes make it Easier to collect?

Supeno: yeah.

Phoenix learns that These pipes,

Like the ones near The liquid blue fire,

Channel sulfuric gasses From volcanic vents.

As the gasses emerge, they Condense into pure sulfur.

If changes from a deeper orange Color, when it's liquid,

And it dries, and it changes Into this lighter yellow color.

In ancient times, Romans burned sulfur

To ward off evil spirits and Protect the body from disease.

It is reputedly A key ingredient

In the legendary weapon "Greek fire."

Today, it is used to make Products as varied as gunpowder,

Sugar, And fertilizer.

But sulfur mining on this Volcano is primitive and deadly.

Do you have any Health problems?

Day after day, Year after year,

Supeno and his colleagues Toil in these acidic fumes,

Corroding their skin And poisoning their lungs.

Denne: sulfur dioxide Will burn your lungs,

And the acid Is so strong there,

It will literally Melt your teeth.

So, how long have You been doing this?

Oh, my god.

Chamberlain: The sulfur that's mined here is Referred to as "Devil's gold,"

Really because it's like making A deal with the devil.

Sure, you get the sulfur, You get a way of life,

But you're trading it for Your health, life, and limb.

To get paid, the miners Must load up their baskets

And make the arduous trek back To the base of the volcano.

How much weight Do you carry?

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

So, that's like 160 pounds.

That's so heavy. -very, very heavy.

Narrator: laden with more Than their own body weight,

The miners ascend The 528-foot-high crater wall.

**

They then face an hour's trek Down the volcano's steep flanks.

**

At this station, they are paid Before returning to the mine.

The average is $5 per load.

This is a really Difficult thing to see.

And to talk to supeno, and to See he and his friends

Working, basically physically Deform themselves.

He makes, like, 10 bucks, 15 bucks a day

For carrying two loads of 150, 160 pounds of sulfur,

At minimum, out.

Narrator: for phoenix, The weird circular lake

Captured by satellite Has been a portal

Into another realm -- One of liquid blue brimstone...

...Vivid waters that can Dissolve a human...

And of infernal gateways Into the underworld --

A place which feeds Our industries,

But in doing so, Exacts a terrible toll.

As a volcanologist, I often Deal with volcanic hazards

That have to do with Destruction of property

Or people's lives Being lost.

But this Particular volcano,

For all of its beauty,

And the wonder that Its uniqueness carries,

It's also just --

It's devastating in A league of its own.

**

Narrator: coming up...

Inside saddam's Pleasure palaces.

You name it -- Saddam's palaces have them.

There are truly vulgar.

Narrator: and kgb pirates Steal the space shuttle.

The russians Were using dummy ships

To smuggle saboteurs and spies Into america.

Narrator: February 2, 2013.

50 miles off the u.S. Coast, A satellite captures an object

On a reef in The gulf of mexico.

At first glance, this is image Looks pretty straightforward.

It's a shipwreck.

Morgan: And it is big.

It's bigger than your average Fishing trawler -- much bigger.

Narrator: Yet martin morgan discovers This is no ordinary wreck.

Morgan: this one Really is a mystery

Because here you have A big shipwreck on a reef,

And it's not marked On nautical charts.

Narrator: Nautical charts log 300,000 Sunken vessels around the world.

An unregistered wreck this size Is highly unusual.

This really adds to the intrigue Surrounding this site.

Narrator: Analysts look for clues In the surrounding seas.

Half a mile from this wreck Is another wreck.

It's shaped a bit Like a cigar,

And it looks suspiciously Like a submarine.

Like the ship, The sub-shaped vessel

Appears to be corroded through And decades-old.

Analysts consider if both

Are casualties Of the second world war.

Many people know about the Different naval battles

All over the world During world war ii,

But few people know How widespread

These battles were In the gulf of mexico.

**

Narrator: In early 1942,

Hitler dispatches u-boats to the East coast of the united states.

In less than seven months, The u-boat wolf pack

Sinks over 200 ships,

And brings the war terrifyingly Close to major american cities.

They were regularly landing German agents on long island.

Many u-boat captains could see The skyscrapers of manhattan

Through their periscopes.

They were that close.

Narrator: To attack american cities,

The nazis developed So-called "Rocket u-boats" --

Subs equipped with 2,200-pound Warhead ballistic missiles.

In early 1945, the u.S. Navy Intercepts and destroys

A group of what it believes Are rocket u-boats

Heading for The u.S. East coast.

They could have actually Bombed manhattan,

And that's A chilling thought.

During world war ii, Hundreds of thousands of tons

Of vital supplies Pass through the waters

Around the wrecks In the image.

In just a few months, The nazis destroy over 20%

Of the entire tanker fleet, And kill 5,000 people.

Because of the way The gulf of mexico is shaped,

And there's only really One area to get in and out,

It's essentially like The germans

Are shooting fish In a barrel.

Walters: being a mariner On a merchant ship --

This a truly terrifying way To spend your war.

And it's as brave To be a merchant seaman

As it is to be a soldier On d-day.

Man: anti-submarine devices Have improved and increased,

But so have submarines,

And the allies can never have Too many escort ships

To hunt them And destroy them.

Narrator: yet the u.S. Military Records the locations

Of world war ii wrecks In shallow waters such as these,

And none match the coordinates Of the satellite image.

Ex-special forces operative Klint janulis

Discovers another clue.

Local fishermen refer to The unregistered wreck

As "El russo" -- "The russian."

Janulis: so, if this Was a russian ship,

What would a russian ship

Be doing sunken off The gulf of mexico

And not reported?

Narrator: declassified U.S. Government documents

Reveal that the wreck's Proximity to the port veracruz

Could explain its absence From official records.

The russians were using ships To smuggle saboteurs and spies

Into america Via ports like veracruz.

And we know that mexico Was a kgb haven.

They could act With impunity there.

Narrator: By the end of the 1970's,

The united states is on the cusp Of the computer revolution.

The kgb uses mexico

To launch a tech espionage Campaign against the u.S.

The russians Wanted this emergent technology,

But it had to get shipped Back to russia

For them to be able to analyze It, and reverse-engineer it.

Narrator: Using dummy ships and companies,

The kgb plants agents In the u.S.,

So-called "Techno-bandits,"

To steal american equipment And expertise.

The newest, biggest, Most technologically advanced

Versions of everything You can think of,

Smuggling it back to the ship, And back to russia.

Narrator: cloning consumer Technology is just the start.

When the u.S. Develops The space shuttle enterprise,

The soviets reportedly Steal nasa blueprints

And build a replica, Called "The buran."

Janulis: The russians were constantly Smuggling people and objects

And goods in and out Of the united states

On a regular basis.

Morgan: so, maybe this wreck Belongs to the cold war

Rather than The second world war.

Narrator: the cia eventually Thwart the tech spies,

Which some experts believe

Contributes to the fall Of the soviet union.

Investigators speculate that The wreck in the image

Was a casualty Of this purge.

If this is a russian spy ship

On the bottom of The gulf of mexico,

Then what happened To it?

The cia might be able to tell You, but I doubt they would.

Coming up, Carnal worship in the desert.

She was very important For ritualistic sex

Between the king And the sacred priestesses.

And high above idaho...

Man: it's as if the gods Designed this

So that they could play This gigantic game of chess.

**

Narrator: january 4, 2017.

Astronauts on board The international space station

Capture something strange In northern idaho.

Morgan: What they're seeing, curiously,

Is a perfectly laid-out Checkerboard pattern.

It looks a chess board.

Narrator: some analysts suspect It's no coincidence

That the grid Can be seen from space.

Janulis: it kind of reminds me Of a tri-bar pattern.

It was something the air force And cia used in the '50s

When they were developing The first spy satellites.

Narrator: Following the shooting down Of a u-2 spy plane

Piloted by gary powers in 1960,

The u.S. Dramatically accelerates

Its spy satellite program.

Some weigh 30,000 pounds,

Are the size of a school bus,

And contain 5-foot-wide cameras.

To calibrate these spy birds From space,

The military constructs Tri-bar patterns,

Which still exist today.

Think of it like how You'd go into an optometrist

And they have a bunch of letters Of different sizes.

The smallest letter you can see Is your resolution, your vision.

Well, this is basically What happened

With the air force tri-bars.

It's the eyesight test For spy satellites.

Narrator: Yet others don't believe This is a cold war relic.

In tri-bar patterns, the Patterns are different sizes,

Making it possible For you to calibrate

Regardless of the altitude Of flight.

But these are all the same size.

Narrator: bronwyn agrios applies Spectral analysis to the image.

I can see that the dark squares Are dense, healthy vegetation.

And the light squares Are much more sparse.

Narrator: agrios also discovers The mystery pattern isn't alone.

Idaho is not the only place

Where I see The giant chessboard.

Western oregon has a lot Of the checkerboard,

As does northern california.

Narrator: each location Has something in common.

Agrios: what I found is that

For every time the checkerboard Pattern shows up,

That it's right next to The railroad.

[ train whistle blows ]

Narrator: analysts investigate The history of the rail network

For possible links.

[ train whistle blows ]

In 1860, railroads cover only The eastern part of the u.S.,

Reaching no farther than iowa.

America had this vast expanse Of land out west.

The problem was, we couldn't Get people out there,

And we couldn't Bring goods back.

Narrator: in 1862, President abraham lincoln

Signs the pacific railway act To connect east and west.

On january 8, 1863, Construction starts

On the 2,000-mile Transcontinental railroad

From iowa to san francisco.

Seven years later, work begins On the north pacific railroad,

Linking the great lakes To oregon.

The railroads were going to Connect the country --

Connect the pacific With the east --

And allow people to travel Places they'd never been

And allow goods to Go back and forth.

Narrator: Working in brutal conditions,

Thousands Of immigrant laborers --

Mostly chinese and irish -- Lay thousands of miles of track.

Hundreds die.

When completed in 1870,

The line slashed travel time From new york to san francisco

From six months to six days.

The system opens up the Resource-rich west to industry,

Transforming america Into an economic powerhouse.

The railroad really created The idea of america.

It took a disparate place And pulled it together.

Narrator: these railroads cost Tens of millions of dollars.

The government comes up with A novel scheme to foot the bill,

Which creates Checkerboard patterns

Across the western states.

The u.S. Government gives plots Of land to the railroad company.

The companies, in turn, sell the Plots of land off to make money.

Narrator: the government divides The land along the railroad

Into numbered One-square-mile plots.

It gives the odd-numbered plots To the rail companies

And retains The even-numbered ones.

As private sale Purchased up plots,

The adjacent Government-owned lots

Would therefore be elevated In overall value.

This is how the railroad Expansion was funded.

Narrator: Yet, historian david krueger Discovers a detail

That suggests this particular Chessboard pattern

May have another origin.

The darker ones Have trees on them.

The areas in white Look like bare ground

That's covered in snow.

So, as the checkerboard Is crossed,

You can see trees, no trees, Trees, no trees all throughout.

But the question is, Who would've done it and why?

Narrator: when investigators Contact the owners,

They confirm that the chessboard Is the legacy of pioneers

From a different age -- Present-day loggers.

Trees on one area are cut down,

But trees are preserved In another area.

It's a way to prevent erosion.

It still allows loggers To get in and harvest the wood.

We're actually seeing Forestry management from space.

Narrator: The chessboard patterns Visible across america

Are the imprints of different Fearless frontiersmen.

Loggers in snowy idaho

And railroaders Over a century before them,

Separated by time but connected By weird images from space.

This checkerboard patterning

Is actually really beautiful And quite moving,

Because it's a reminder Of the pioneer age of our nation

And the lives that were lost To create it.

**

Narrator: coming up, texas sinks Into the underworld...

What does this mean For the safety

Of the places where we live?

Narrator: ...And weird structures In the land of the bible.

Who on earth Would build such features

Out in the middle of the desert And why?

**

Narrator: july 2, 2008.

As the quickbird satellite Passes high above southern iraq,

It captures a cluster Of markings below.

This is a really Strange-looking image.

It's in the middle Of the desert,

And there are all these Sort of weird shapes

That don't really conform To any geometry whatsoever.

Who on earth Would build such features

Out in the middle of the desert And why?

Narrator: Scale analysis reveals that Some of the crumbling structures

Are hundreds of feet wide.

This gives archeologist Katie paul a possible clue.

In ancient culture, we often see These kind of scale structures

With regard to temples Or places of worship.

Narrator: For analysts, the location of The structures is intriguing.

They sit near the tigris And euphrates rivers,

The rumored location Of the garden of eden,

And home to one of history's Greatest civilizations --

Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamia was the rival To ancient egypt.

They were, at the same time,

Developing A parallel civilization

Based upon the cities And temples.

Narrator: mesopotamia flourishes For around 4,500 years.

Its people invent the sailboat, The free-spinning wheel,

And the first-known written Language, known as cuneiform.

Mesopotamians Honored dozens of deities,

Including enki, God of wisdom and earth,

And the goddess of sex, love, And war -- inanna.

She was very important For fertility in particular,

So this included Acts of ritualistic sex

That would have occurred In her temples

Between, sometimes, the king And these sacred priestesses.

Narrator: yet, when analysts Check historical images

Of the structures,

They discover they date From another era.

In early satellite photos Between the '60s and '70s,

These structures aren't here.

They show up somewhere Between 1979 and 1989

Under saddam hussein's reign.

Narrator: saddam, which means "One who confronts" in arabic,

Rises to power in july 1979

Following a bloody purge Of the ruling ba'ath party.

During his brutal reign,

He keeps a copy of the koran Written in his own blood,

Yet also writes a romance novel.

While his own people starve,

Hussein spends $2 billion

Constructing more than 50 opulent palaces.

Saddam has a taste For building palaces,

And he builds a lot of palaces.

Some of them take on All sorts of strange shapes,

And they sprawl around Over vast sites.

So it's perfectly possible That what we see here

Could be some sort of palace.

Narrator: 1,000 building in all, One palace has dolphin ponds,

Another, Rooms adorned with erotic art.

The 62-room vanity mansion Al-faw, or "The duck palace,"

Is exclusively used for Presidential hunting parties.

You name it, Saddam's palaces have them --

Gardens full of flamingos, Massive swimming pools,

Half-a-million square footage, Nuclear bunkers.

They are truly vulgar.

Narrator: in march 2003,

Special forces operative Klint janulis

Takes part In the u.S. Invasion of iraq.

It was a surreal thing to see As a young soldier.

I stayed in 30 or 40 of These things over a few months.

Narrator: Invasion forces discover that

The "Victory over america" Palace

Has been hit By u.S. Air strikes.

Vengeful iraqis ransack And tear down others,

A program of destruction

That could explain The ruins in the image.

These are cheap, gaudy palaces.

And so, none of these things

Were going to last Any more than a few years.

Narrator: Yet, when investigators check

The precise location Of these shapes,

They discover a problem With the palace theory.

Walters: it's near basra,

Which is a key flash point To the iran/iraq war.

So you're unlikely To build a palace

In a place that your enemy has a Chance of shelling or invading.

Narrator: the iran/iraq war Begins on september 22, 1980,

When saddam orders his troops To topple the iranian regime.

He picks this fight

Partly because the united states Wants him to.

Iran was an american enemy.

Narrator: An estimated 1.5 million people Die in the war.

50,000 are killed By saddam's chemical weapons.

Narrator: The barbaric iranian leader The ruhollah khomeini

Sends countless children On suicide missions

To clear iraqi minefields.

Sickeningly, it's rumored

That he gives each one A gold plastic key

So they can open the gates Of paradise when they die.

It was a bloody, Brutal conflict.

It was pointless, It was fruitless,

It was expensive, And it achieved nothing.

And neither side won.

Narrator: Former intelligence officer Trevor albertson

Reexamines the image To investigate

The site's possible role In the conflict.

The crescent shapes Offer a clue.

They're all facing the same Direction -- towards iran.

Narrator: albertson believes The alignment means

They served A key tactical function.

I think these are actually Armor revetments,

Where you could either park A piece of artillery or a tank

And allow it to fight From a protected position.

Narrator: satellite images Along the 900-mile border

Reveal other ghostly remnants Of this futile conflict.

Albertson: these structures Are a physical manifestation

Of the horror Of the iran/iraq war

And all wars in general.

And these will be with us For centuries as a reminder.

**

Narrator: coming up, into the House-swallowing texas abyss.

The idea of the earth opening up

And swallowing you whole While you sleep

Is absolutely terrifying.

**

Narrator: october 3, 2014.

A european space agency Sentinel satellite

Surveys west texas and captures An intriguing image.

There's a lake in the seam, But there's a mystery

Because there's a road

That leads directly through The middle of this lake.

Why would anyone Build a road into a lake?

It doesn't make any sense.

Narrator: Image analyst ken joyce

Turns to digitalglobe Securewatch technology

To examine the site.

He discovers the body of water Is nearly 1,800 feet long

And covers an area the size

Of approximately 30 football fields.

In a location where There was previously a road,

To have a lake That's a half a mile wide

Is a significant event.

Narrator: Joyce studies historical images Of the site for clues.

We can use the archive Of satellite photography

To go back in time.

In 2007, it was A quarter of a mile wide.

So the diameter of the lake Has nearly doubled.

Sanford: the area is really dry, So it just doesn't make sense.

What is going on?

Narrator: Satellite images reveal

Two other Unnatural bodies of water

To the northwest Of the phantom lake.

These appear To be changing shape.

I don't think these Can be natural ponds,

Because rarely is a pond Or a lake perfectly circular.

Almost like the ground caved in And there was water below.

Narrator: Satellite topographical data Reveals an even bigger mystery.

The gaping holes Sit in the midst

Of a vast 4,000-square-mile Stretch of texas

Which is sinking,

In some parts, By more than three feet.

What we're really seeing is the Collapse of the texan landscape

In real time.

Narrator: Geologists fear these holes Are morphing into a giant void

Which could destroy Entire neighborhoods.

The idea of the earth opening up

And swallowing you whole While you sleep

Is absolutely terrifying.

Narrator: The danger zone covers an area Almost the size of connecticut.

You're talking about The ground literally shifting

In a sizeable area.

What does that mean, and is it Going to spread even further?

So, that is a real concern.

Narrator: investigators identify One subterranean activity

That can dramatically undermine The landscape.

We have seen this sort of Ground instability before,

And it's been associated with Underground weapons testing.

Narrator: analysts discover That underground nuclear testing

Did take place in this region.

Morgan: in 1961, there's the Introduction of project gnome,

The belowground nuclear test

That takes place Near the texas border.

Narrator: Declassified documents reveal

That project gnome is part Of operation plowshare,

A research program To test if nuclear bombs

Can be used In civil engineering projects.

The u.S. Government Began to investigate

Whether or not Nuclear explosions

Could be used to create a lake Or open up a mine shaft.

Narrator: Plans include blasting out A second panama canal...

...And blowing a gap in the Bristol mountains in california

To build a new highway.

On july 6, 1962, At the nevada test center,

The military assesses The excavation potential

Of a 104-kiloton bomb 600 feet belowground.

Morgan: The explosion threw 12 million Tons of soil into the air.

It created a crater That is so big,

If you laid the empire state Building down its side,

It would fit inside that crater.

Narrator: U.S. Military records confirm Project gnome takes place

Just to the north of the lakes In the satellite image.

Morgan: maybe the things We're seeing in the photograph

Might be related To project gnome

Or another test Associated with it.

Narrator: Investigators head to the lake.

They find no traces Of radioactivity,

But they do find a white, crusty Substance in the water -- salt.

This gives scientist Jess phoenix a clue.

A lot of the mining activities That go on in texas

Require injecting water and Fluids down into the subsurface,

Which can dissolve the salts That exist underground.

That leads to instability In the underlying geology

And can produce sinkholes, Just like what we see here.

Narrator: since the first gusher Was discovered in texas in 1894,

Prospectors have drilled An incalculable number

Of boreholes and wells All over the state.

Hundreds of thousands Lie abandoned.

Many are thousands of feet deep.

You can actually see that texas

Is just full of oil and gas Extraction sites.

It dominates A lot of the landscape.

Narrator: underground aquifers Leak into these wells,

Destabilizing the ground

And creating A geological time bomb

Across large parts of texas.

Sinkholes could appear Almost anywhere, any time.

And analysts fear This may be just the start

Of a terrifying Seismic collapse.

If we're doing this near towns,

What does this mean For the safety

Of the places where we live?