A team of scientists is travelling to one of the most barren places in the world after a 50 to 80 metre-wide hole in the earth was discovered in the far north of Siberia in a place whose name means “the end of the world.”
The giant hole in the tundra of the remote Yamal peninsula was discovered by helicopter pilots, who later posted their discovery on YouTube. The hole is about 30 kilometres from Yamal’s largest gas field.
Mounds of dirt can be seen outside of the hole and its floor is pitch black
It was likely an underground explosion, caused by a mixture of water, salt and gas, that caused the crater, Anna Kurchatova from Sub-Arctic Scientific Research Centre told the Times. An “alarming” melt in the permafrost released gas similar to a Champagne bottle popping, she suggested.
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