In one of the Yamal "black holes" studied in many laboratories, Russian experts discovered a unique phenomenon. It showed signs of a new gas outburst formation. What does it mean?
“In December 2017, we discovered from space that in one of the craters, flooded with water, a new mound grew and exploded,” Vasily Bogoyavlensky, a well-known scientist, deputy director of the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said at the Ecology 2018 forum. - That is, at the same place, the phenomenon of gas hydrodynamics periodically occurs. As we expected, the mechanisms of volcanism work to some extent, pressure builds up, and an outburst occurs. Then the situation stabilizes, part of the ejected rock falls to the bottom, closes the degassing channels. Then the pressure builds up again, and at a certain moment another surge occurs.
And this is the uniqueness of the phenomenon, we managed to prove that the formation of craters is not a one-time phenomenon, not a one-time gas exhaust. There may periodically, annually, every two or several years, additional emissions occur. And this, of course, increases the risk of human activity in the Arctic. Scientists have not yet revealed the exact location of the funnel. They promise to publish a detailed analysis in the scientific publication "Arctic: Ecology and Economics" in the near future. Also, the scientist is in no hurry to state unequivocally that all the craters in the Arctic are of purely natural origin. - One of the most famous craters - in the floodplain of the Morda-Yakha River in Yamal, north of Se-Yakha, is definitely a natural phenomenon. We managed to take gas samples and analyze it. Biogenic gas, there are no wells nearby, so there is no doubtthat the appearance of this funnel has a natural character. But about all the craters that have been discovered in recent years, we cannot say with one hundred percent certainty that human activities did not contribute to their appearance. It is quite possible that some are technogenic in nature, - says Vasily Bogoyavlensky. Andrey Korikov