From the height of the helicopter, the Yamal crater looks like a small hole in the ground. Approaching, you can see the ice walls going down, and at the bottom - water. Around the eternal tundra and its characteristic majestic tranquility.
It is hard to believe that a cataclysm occurred here a few months ago, which blew up not only the mass of rocks (in the literal sense), but also news feeds (figuratively). Specialists of the Institute of Oil and Gas Geology and Geophysics named after AA Trofimuk SB RAS recently returned from an expedition, during which they examined the funnel in order to draw conclusions about the causes of what happened.
Scientists carried out geophysical research using the methods of tomography, magnetic prospecting and radiometry, sounding by formation in the near zone. The essence of the latter is as follows: a closed circuit is laid out on the surface, then the current is started, then it is abruptly turned off, and the response is measured by another circuit, which depends on the resistance of a particular structure under the ground.
“With its help, we looked at a depth of about 300 meters, while tomography shows only the first 50. These are two complementary methods,” commented a member of the expedition, Candidate of Technical Sciences Vladimir Vladimirovich Potapov. As for the magnetic and radiation background, in the first case, as scientists say, there are no anomalies, and in the second, the indicators are slightly increased, but this is due to the release of rocks.
The specialists worked for four and a half days - not counting, of course, the time it took to set up the camp. “Something we just didn't have time, we couldn't physically. Some things were not done for security reasons,”says lead engineer Oleg Nikolaevich Kushnarenko.
Igor Nikolayevich Yeltsov, Deputy Director of INGG SB RAS, Doctor of Technical Sciences, adds: “Our geophysicists had a great temptation to descend into this crater, but the institute did not authorize enthusiastic scientists (although there was a climber in the detachment) such dangerous work”.
Now, as Vladimir Potapov notes, it is still difficult to say what the exact results will be, because the processing of all the data obtained is a long process. “In any case, I think there will be no one hundred percent certainty about the reasons for what happened,” the geophysicist emphasizes, “but the work, nevertheless, needs to be continued, and not only for us - in all possible ways. Put forward hypotheses, test them, because, firstly, the crater itself is a very interesting scientific phenomenon, and, secondly, such things can significantly affect the development of Yamal's infrastructure in principle."
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In fact, the scientists carried out reconnaissance work, which, however, can greatly advance the scientific community in understanding what happened, as well as provide the prerequisites for the next trip: what needs to be paid more attention, moreover, not only on this crater, but also in places where something similar could potentially happen.
Be that as it may, preliminary results have been obtained. Experts speak about them carefully and with many reservations, but one thing is clear: there is no single main reason for the giant explosion. A whole complex, if you like, a bouquet of circumstances, folded one “flower”, each of which brought its own contribution, worked, and it is not clear what served as the metaphorical last straw.
First, the Yamal crater is located at the intersection of tectonic faults. “Despite the fact that the region itself is a seismically calm territory, there is an active tectonic life. The zone we are considering is at the junction of two large faults that cross the peninsula,”comments Igor Yeltsov.
Vladimir Potapov continues: “Of course, this suggests the following: there was a slightly higher temperature, simply because heat rises from the center of our planet along these“cracks”in the earth's crust. It warmed up the environment."
Secondly, as the chief researcher of the Institute of Cryosphere of the Earth SB RAS (Tyumen), Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Marina Oskarovna Leibman points out, a very warm summer happened - accordingly, heating was also added from above.
“For Yamal, in general, recent seasons are characterized by high temperatures in the warm season, which, incidentally, gives rise to a number of problems with the development of the Bovanenkovo field,” says Igor Eltsov in parentheses.
However, here one of the main participants in the event enters the scene: gas hydrates. Their release, according to the scientist, is a working hypothesis of the formation of the Yamal crater: "As it turned out, they" live "both in a deep layer, which is located on the peninsula at the first hundred meters, and in the surface layer."
“It is very possible that there were some other factors that provoked the pneumo-cotton that happened. Everyone added a little bit - the gas exploded, and a funnel turned out,”says Vladimir Potapov.
By the way, in this respect, the assumption of the Yamal crater is connected with another hypothesis concerning another incredible natural phenomenon - the Bermuda Triangle. Scientists are quite prosaic people, and they were not satisfied with the otherworldly explanation of the reasons for the disappearance of not only ships, but also planes.
“There is a version that this concerns exactly the manifestation of gas hydrates,” smiles Igor Eltsov. - They begin to actively decompose, methane ice turns into gas, moreover, it happens like an avalanche, like a nuclear reaction, and very large volumes of it begin to be released. Accordingly, having warmed up, the ocean boils, and floating ships sink in this water with a huge share of gas, and because of the turbulence of the atmosphere supersaturated with methane, air ships sink."
Unlike the Bermuda Triangle, the Yamal Crater is not a unique phenomenon. According to experts, in fact, people know such things. True, it is difficult to talk about their frequency, because all this happens in very sparsely populated areas.
“As we were told - specifying that these are just rumors - there are lakes of anomalous depth on the peninsula. To verify the information, even if presented in the form of semi-legends, we measured the depth of nearby water bodies, but in all cases it was no more than three meters. An indicator of 10-15-20 meters would be considered unusual, and in this case, the nature of such lakes is not clear, given the flat terrain. So it can be assumed that such cataclysms took place tens of thousands of years ago, and now the remaining craters are filled with water,”Oleg Kushnarenko notes.
The scientists' expedition was complex; it was initiated by Academician Mikhail Ivanovich Epov, Director of INGG SB RAS, and Sergei Nikolaevich Menshikov, head of Gazprom Dobycha Nadym. “I must say, this is a rather rare case when a state corporation and a scientific organization have united and put together resources: we gave part of the money from other projects, collected equipment, carried out a large amount of measurements, and now we are interpreting the material.
Our partners provided us with helicopters and special equipment, - says Igor Eltsov, further explaining. “Since we were talking about high concentrations of methane and the possibility of ignition, quite ordinary things like an electric drill could not work there, they should only be in a special design.” In addition, the trip was also attended by a representative of Gazprom VNIIGAZ, whose tasks included sampling, description of geomorphology and other related work.
Scientists say that the Yamal crater, though not close to the Bovanenkovo field, but still at a rather dangerous distance, reminds once again: the infrastructure (including gas pipelines, buildings, engineering structures) should be created taking into account the presence of tectonic faults, in order to minimize risks. It is impossible to prevent such rather rare natural phenomena that have such power - and, in fact, how?
Ekaterina Pustolyakova
Science in Siberia website
Photos courtesy of V. Potapov
