Vault containing more than 860,000 anti-apocalypse seeds

More than 860,000 varieties of seeds are stored in a vault hidden deep inside a mountain in Norway in case of a global disaster.

Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway. Photo: National Geographic.

The Global Seed Vault is located safely inside the Plataberget mountain in Svalbard, Norway, not far from the North Pole, according to Reuters. The facility, also known as the “doomsday vault,” is dug into ice and rock and was created by scientist and biodiversity conservationist Cary Fowler to protect one of the planet’s most valuable and vulnerable resources: plants.

The vault currently holds 864,309 specimens. Fowler's plan is to store 4.5 million plant species, with an average of 500 specimens per species. The vault can hold up to about 2.5 billion seeds.

The tunnel, inaugurated in 2008, extends 120 meters into the mountain. It is designed to last for 1,000 years and withstand many disasters, including climate change.

The site is geologically stable, with low humidity and high above sea level, keeping the seeds dry even when the ice caps melt. The permafrost and thick rock ensure the seed samples remain frozen at -18°C even in the event of a power outage.

According to VNE