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Marc Di Duca

Large crater appears at the 'end of the world'

By The Siberian Times reporter
15 July 2014

Mysterious 'gigantic' hole in remote region spotted by helicopters over gas-rich Yamal peninsula.

The crater is large enough for several Mi-8 helicopters to fly into it. Picture: Konstantin Nikolaev

The striking puncture in the earth is believed to be up to 80 metres wide but its depth is not estimated yet. A scientific team has been sent to investigate the hole and is due to arrive at the scene on Wednesday.

The cause of its sudden appearance in Yamal - its name means the 'end of the world' in the far north of Siberia - is not yet known, though one scientific claim is that global warming may be to blame.

There is additionally speculation it could be caused by a space object - perhaps a meteorite - striking earth or that it is a sinkhole caused by collapsing rock beneath the hole caused by as yet unknown factors.

The giant hole appeared close to a forest some 30 kilometres from Yamal's biggest gas field Bovanenkovo. Experts are confident that a scientific explanation will be found for it and that it is not - as one web claim suggested - evidence 'of the arrival of a UFO craft' to the planet. 

A report and footage highlighted by Zvezda TV says the dark colour of the crater indicates 'some temperature processes', without explaining more what they may mean. Others say that the darkening around the inner rim indicates its formation was accompanied by severe burning scorching the edges.  

Some observers believe water or dry soil is seen falling into the cavity.

Large crater appears at the 'end of the world'


Large crater appears at the 'end of the world'


Large crater appears at the 'end of the world'


Large crater appears at the 'end of the world'


Large crater appears at the 'end of the world'

Initial reports and images were suspected to be fakes, but the hole is a real phenomenon and it is believed to have been formed around two years ago. Pictures: Konstantin Nikolaev

There is agreement that soil around the hole was thrown out of the crater, large enough for several Mi-8 helicopters to fly into it - not that they have. 

The expedition organised by the Yamal authorities includes two experts from the Centre for the Study of the Arctic and one from Cryosphere Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. They plan to take samples of soil, air and water from the scene.

They will be accompanied by a specialist from the Emergencies Ministry.

A spokesman for the ministry's Yamal branch ruled out a meteorite but said it was too early to say what cause the gigantic hole in the earth. 

'We can definitely say that it is not a meteorite. No details yet,' said a spokesman. 

Initial reports and images were suspected to be fakes, but the hole is a real phenomenon and it is believed to have been formed around two years ago.

Engineer Konstantin Nikolaev from Yugra is one of those to have filmed it from a helicopter.  

Anna Kurchatova from Sub-Arctic Scientific Research Centre thinks the crater was formed by a water, salt and gas mixture igniting an underground explosion, the result of global warming. She postulates that gas accumulated in ice mixed with sand beneath the surface, and that this was mixed with salt - some 10,000 years ago this area was a sea.

Global warming, causing an 'alarming' melt in the permafrost, released gas causing an effect like the popping of a Champagne bottle cork, she suggests.

Given the gas pipelines in this region such a happening is potentially dangerous.

Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug


in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug


in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug


in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug

Sights of Yamal - aerial view of tundra, road to Bovanenkovo gas field, opening ceremony of the Bovanenkovo, and reindeers. Pictures: Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug administration

The Yamal Peninsula in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug is a strategic oil and gas bearing region of Russia.  

It is Russia's main production area for gas and the Bovanenkovo field is of central importance to gas supplies from Siberia to the world. 

The gas field was discovered in 1972 and developed by Gazprom starting production in 2012. The Yamal peninsula is bordered by the Kara Sea - Baydaratskaya Bay - to the west, and the Gulf of Ob on the east. It extends some 700 kilometres over mainly permafrost. 

The area is famous for its reindeer herds and migratory birds. 

The Nenets and Khanty reindeer herders hold about half a million domestic reindeer.

The remains of ancient woolly mammoths have been found in this enchanting territory. 

Comments (172)

Siberian gaint hole is very wonderful and fantastic,that is a natural gas blasting in the inside of siberian earth then ma

amke wil gaint hol.inside of earth cor heat and atmosfier air pressur then will blast the natural LPG gas,I think this.
saju s Nair, chokli,kannur,kerala,INDIA
01/08/2014 16:17
1
0
Looks like EDM (Electical Discharge Machining) similar to the pit craters recently discovered on the moon and mars. Impossible to know whether the discharge was caused by a bolide, a CME, or even HAARP( or Russian equivalent) induced ionospheric discharge. All the images appear to show a burnt surface, and fulgerites around the rim, all consistent with an electrical discharge to the permafrost. Basically a giant lightning bolt. Seems like the local inhabitants must have seen or heard something.
steve, north bend, wa
01/08/2014 13:55
3
1
To Aaron: not really sure what you are on about there.
BUT
They have been talking about another world for years now when a slab of ice was covering better part of earth thousands of years ago. This slab of ice was KILOMETERS THICK! Think about this. It could still be sitting there in places around earth not kilometers but hundreds of meters thick. Now when it starts melting (about now) this science fiction will become real...
Gandalf, Siberia
30/07/2014 19:05
2
1
I suspect large moles
Robert, Nelson
30/07/2014 03:59
8
2
Underground lake system. Caves thin the top sometimes and collapse this could be a place where water has been bubbling up for thousands of years eating away to make the hole we now see. There are cave-ins underground that are never seen. A cave in or sudden water rush could have forced enough air pressure to build to push the top open, the bubble forcing some earth to the side and the rest to drop to the bottom. Use your intellect people. You imaginary reality god idiots need to get your cave man imaginations in check. Imagination AND intellect good...imaginary mythology void of intellect as reality bad. Read this story. http://sk1951.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/critical-thinking-analogy-of-the-imaginary-and-intellectual-mind/
sk1951, usa
30/07/2014 03:14
4
4
It almost sounds like a science fiction book I read a little while ago where a similar phenomenon was caused by a small black hole exiting the earth after entering from the other side.

sockeye king, vancouver canada
30/07/2014 01:12
0
1
Your website is very very very informative and refreshing. ..I am a Texan who hates the cold but your resoures are enormous. ..and youamance beauty of your country is enormous...I admire your president more so than the nation I live in Why? He has a naturalist head on his shoulder s...defintely will keep reviewing your web site
Jackie L. Goldsmith, Mesquite,Texas/U S A
29/07/2014 19:07
2
2
YA'JOOJ MA'JOOJ barbarians have been living down there for thousands of years. Their clothes are made of human hair. They are humans, but their underground life made them savages. They number in billions and would wipe out most of the human living on the surface. Never neglect their coming!
Aaron, USA
26/07/2014 21:49
10
2
Where's the update on this from the scientist sent there last week?
Bonds, Silicon Valley, USA
26/07/2014 01:18
2
1
The word YAMAL means "End of the Land'
KJ , Virginia, virginia
22/07/2014 00:10
1
2
Thats just scary!!!
tank, altus
21/07/2014 17:19
2
2
Entrance to Inner World...
juan carlos, Guatemala
21/07/2014 11:22
5
3
Un Trou Noir....Espace
BELKACEMI Jean-Claude, Nancy FRANCE
21/07/2014 06:03
4
1
oh noes!! the plot of a Fantastic 4 movie is coming true!!



ERRBODY HEAD TO MARS! NAO~
dakirk, nun-yo-bidness
21/07/2014 05:30
0
3
Well.... i doubt we are close...to end of world. It is may be the coming of yaujood nd maujood... mentioned in quran.. which are major sign of ending of world... Quran is always correct...people who want have brain nd want to know truth ... study quran..... reaserch truth. MAY almighty Allah bless yu... just frst study... then think...compare...justify.... then only satisfied... belive...Allah..
Siddique, India
21/07/2014 04:15
6
23

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