Mystery of the hole at the ‘end of the world’ in Siberia

Mystery of the hole at the ‘end of the world’ in Siberia

Mangalore Today News Network

Russia, July 18, 2014:  Russian scientists believe a giant crater which appeared in far northern Siberia was caused by rising temperatures in the area - not a meteorite.

Andrei Plekhanov, a senior researcher at the Scientific Research Center of the Arctic, said the mysterious hole which appeared in the gas-rich area earlier this week was most likely the result of a ’build-up of excessive pressure’ underground, due to the region’s changing temperatures.

On Wednesday, Mr Plekhanov traveled to the 262ft wide crater, in the Yamal Peninsula of northern Russia, to study how the crater was formed.

This giant crater measuring around 262ft and found in far northern Siberia is believed to have been caused by rising temperatures in the area - not a meteorite

Andrei Plekhanov, a senior researcher at the Scientific Research Center of the Arctic, who travelled to investigate the crater, said there were no traces of an explosion

 

The discovery eliminates the possibility that a meteorite had struck the region in the Yamal Peninsula - the name of which translates as ’the end of the world’

Mr Plekhanov said the enormous crater appears to be made up of 80 per cent ice which adds to the theory that it was caused by the effects of global warming

 

The darkening around the inner rim of the crater also indicates ’severe burning’ which scorched the crater’s edges, researchers said

 

 He said 80 percent of the crater appeared to be made up of ice and that there were no traces of an explosion.

The discovery eliminates the possibility that a meteorite had struck the region - the name of which translates as ’the end of the world’.

After the hole was discovered, there was speculation online about the crater indicating ’the arrival of a UFO craft’.

When it was found, some said the hole could have been formed by a meteorite striking the spot in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, which some 20 miles from the Bovanenkovo gas field.

The Siberian Times reported how an expedition took place this week to find the source of the crater.

The expedition organised by the Yamal authorities included experts from Russia’s Centre for the Study of the Arctic, and also the Cryosphere Institute of the Academy of Sciences.

The mysterious hole is in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, some 20 miles from the Bovanenkovo gas field

They took samples of soil, air and water from the scene and were accompanied by a specialist from Russia’s Emergencies Ministry.

Anna Kurchatova from the Sub-Arctic Scientific Research Centre, thinks the crater was formed by a mixture of water, salt and gas igniting an underground explosion, a result of global warming.

Gas accumulated in ice could have mixed with sand beneath the surface, and then mixed with salt.

Some 10,000 years ago this area was a sea.

Global warming may have caused an ’alarming’ melt in the under-soil ice, released gas and causing an effect like the popping of a Champagne bottle cork, Ms Kurchatova suggests.

Yamal, a large peninsula jutting into Arctic waters, is Russia’s main production area for gas supplied to Europe.