There are many beautiful, interesting and mysterious places on the territory of Russia. And one of them is the so-called Patomsky crater. It is located in the Irkutsk region. For the first time they started talking about the crater after the Great Patriotic War, when in 1949 it was discovered by the research group of Vadim Kolpakov.
Of course, I understand that this thing had to be called somehow, but as for me, it doesn't look like a crater at all - its shape is too strange - there is a crater on top, and in the center there is a small hill up to 12 meters high.
The total height of the embankment is approximately 40 meters. Its name "crater" got from the river of the same name, flowing nearby. But he also has another name given by the locals - "the nest of the fiery eagle." How this crater appeared, and whether it is a crater at all, is a mystery to the scientific world.
Until now, heated scientific disputes around him do not subside - and so much time has passed since its discovery. It can rightfully be called one of the most mysterious objects on our planet.
There are several versions on the issue of crater formation:
1) According to one of them, in ancient times, a nuclear explosion could have occurred in this place underground. But then there would have remained uranium deposits, which were never discovered either by Kolpakov himself (who first voiced this version) or by other researchers.
In addition, it should be borne in mind that for a spontaneous nuclear reaction, practically laboratory conditions are required - there must be a certain ratio of uranium isotopes, uninterrupted access of carbon and many other details.
Promotional video:
Can nature really do something like this? As for me - hardly. You can remember the "natural" nuclear reactor in Gabon in Central Africa. Personally, I strongly doubt its "naturalness", well, ok - they recognized it as natural.
Well, then the question arises - here it has been functioning for more than one million years, but has not yet reached the state necessary for a spontaneous explosion. Is the heat getting in the way?
2) According to the second version, also voiced by Kolpakov, the famous Tunguska meteorite could have landed here. However, the researchers did not find any remains of the meteorite - did he burrow into the ground? And the shape of the crater is not at all similar to what remains after the fall of meteorites.
3) According to the third theory, a powerful volcano is to blame for the creation of this crater. But here's the thing - neither active volcanoes nor the remains of ancient and extinct ones could be found in this area. No volcanic material was found here either.
4) This thing is of artificial origin and it could have been left either by aliens or by some ancient and technologically advanced civilization of our planet. Interestingly, if I'm not mistaken, the researchers found that the crater itself is 500 years old.
However, the analysis of local trees showed that they grow much faster than in other, normal conditions. And something similar has already been observed and do you know where? After the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Of course, the theory of an ancient alien ship with nuclear fuel on board is the most interesting and exciting.
However, searches with a metal detector on the territory of the crater did not yield any results - well, this alien ship was not made of wood, was it?
5) And one more interesting version - this crater could arise as a result of the ongoing processes of freezing and thawing of rocks.
It is customary to call such things cryovolcanoes - if I am not mistaken, several of them have already been found on the territory of Russia - remember at least the mysterious craters in Yamal. Something similar exists on other planets of the solar system, for example, on Jupiter. However, this theory is new and has yet to be proven.
One way or another, the researchers could not come to a consensus on the origin of this thing.