Scientists Finally Got A Close Up View Of That Mysterious Siberian Crater - Here's What They Found
AP Photo/Press Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Governor
The crater looks almost too incredible to be real, but researchers finally made their way there on July 16 and it most certainly is the real thing. But even though the expedition revealed more information, the exact cause of the crater is still being determined.
Here's what it looks like from a helicopter:
Some think the crater might have been formed by a "pingo" - a geological feature found in areas with permafrost like the Yamal Peninsula.
A pingo is a hill or dome that forms in the permafrost because of an underground ice formation, caused by groundwater forcing its way up towards the surface. There it encounters colder temperatures and freezes. If it melted, due to warming temperatures, it could have left a crater behind.
Another possibility is that as the ground warms, an underground ice formation may have released gas that had been trapped there for thousands of years, which could have forced its way through the surface, bursting out and leaving a giant hole.
AP Photo/Associated Press Television
Anna Kurchatova from the Sub-Arctic Scientific Research Centre described the process to The Siberian Times as one where frozen gas, salt, and sand underground may have warmed enough to cause "an effect like the popping of a Champagne bottle cork."
AP Photo/Associated Press Television
AP Photo/Press Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Governor
The research team said that ice in the sides of the crater is melting as it's exposed to the sun, causing water to flow down into the lake. This may eventually fill the crater.
AP Photo/Press Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Governor
The Russian researchers are using satellite footage to see if they can determine when the crater appeared, though they imagine it happened in the past year or two.
AP Photo/Press Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Governor
Plekhanov said that the phenomenon seems natural, though still incredibly strange. He told The Siberian Times, "I've never seen anything like this, even though I have been to Yamal many times."
Here's the original video footage that revealed the crater to the world.
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