Giant funnels in Yamal appear like mushrooms after rain: scientists have already counted seven pieces. The last Russian expedition explored the most famous crater located near the Bovanenkovo gas field in November 2014.
Since then, scientists have only processed the data obtained. However, analyzing satellite images, the researchers came to unexpected conclusions. There are more giant craters than we thought.
- We can already talk about seven craters in the Arctic region, - says Vasily Bogoyavlensky, Deputy Director of the Institute of Oil and Gas of the Russian Academy of Sciences (previously there were 3 craters). - We know exactly the location of four, and the presence of three more is known from the words of reindeer herders.
New holes are highlighted in red
In place of one of these craters, a large lake 100 by 50 meters was formed. About 20 small craters were counted around it, the diameter of some of them does not exceed two meters. But most importantly, the Bogoyavlensky group saw in the photographs from space not far from the Bovanenkovo crater two more large dangerous objects, which, according to scientists, could explode at any minute.
THE ALIEN SHIP DIDN'T FLY?
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The journalists contacted Alexander Kizyakov, senior researcher at the Department of Cryolithology and Glaciology, Moscow State University. He was part of the last expedition to Yamal and was one of the first to descend to the bottom of the Bovanenkovo crater.
Cryolithology is a science that studies geological processes and their lithological and geomorphological effect in connection with the freezing and thawing of rocks, that is, with ice formation or the disappearance of ice in the earth's crust.
How are you going to study these two "bombs", because it can explode at any moment …
- I've seen these photos. I have my own opinion on this: the places highlighted in the picture can be ordinary slopes. These are not heaving mounds. And then it is still necessary to substantiate the connection between these mounds and the formation of such craters. After all, the mechanism is not fully known to us. How, then, can we predict new funnels? But prospecting geologists are entitled to their opinion. We have our own specifics, our group is engaged in cryogenic processes, we study what happens in the permafrost.
Have you managed to process the data collected during the descent to the bottom of the crater?
- Not yet. But we have already received some results. The time of the formation of the Bovanenkovo crater was determined this fall of 2013 (the pilots discovered it only in the summer of 2014 - author). We analyzed satellite images and squeezed a fairly accurate time interval. At first, there is no funnel in the frames, then a hill 40-45 meters in diameter forms, and then we found a picture on which the funnel is fixed.
We assume that the crater was formed between October 9 and November 1, 2013. According to our hypothesis, crater formation is the response of permafrost to climate change. Permafrost contains a large amount of gas at depths of approximately 20 to 130 meters. The rise in temperature over the past 10 years and especially the warm summer of 2012 triggered the melting of ice at depth and the release of large volumes of gas, which led to a catastrophic expansion and release of the "plug" to the surface. But these guesses still need to be checked, data collected.
Satellite images taken at an unspecified time interval show how first small holes appeared in this place, and then a huge hole, which immediately filled with water.
And exotic versions - space aliens, meteorite …
- We ruled out the version of an explosion or fall of an extraterrestrial object, since no traces of radioactivity or exposure to high temperatures were found. However, a high concentration of methane is observed inside the hole, which indicates the presence of some kind of gas-bearing structures.
When is the next expedition planned?
- It all comes down to money. We had an April expedition to Yamal in our plan. It was necessary to take samples, look at the snow survey, calculate in detail how quickly the funnel fills. Because there is a possibility that at the end of summer the crater will be completely covered by water and then it will be difficult to study the structure of the section. But now there is no way to organize an exit. It is expensive to arrange the delivery of a research team. One helicopter is needed only for geophysicists, they have heavy equipment: coils, receivers … Plus we have more.
Alexander Kizyakov was one of the first to descend to the bottom of the crater near Bovanenkovo
BEFORE THE CATASTROPHE - FIT BY HAND
Do you have an idea of how the study of the problem is structured? Because there are scattered publications from different sources …
- No, everything was planned well. The idea was to unite several groups: prospecting geologists (Bogoyavlensky's team), permafrost specialists (that is, us), geophysicists and several other specialized institutes. Everyone studies the phenomenon from their side, but in the end we come to a single agreed solution.
But now the issue of financing is acute. Opportunities are different for everyone. Departmental institutes of Gazprom will probably be able to assemble an expedition to Yamal. Funding is more difficult for scientific organizations. Vladimir Pushkarev, director of the Russian Center for Arctic Studies, is trying to find a solution, for Yamal these studies are very important.
I've heard different versions. Some say that the explosions of craters are not dangerous, since the population density in Yamal is low: there are gas producers' shift camps, where shift teams and nomadic reindeer herders come. Others regard these phenomena as a serious threat to people …
- They are absolutely correct. We have no search signs, we do not know: where it might happen next time, what conditions? For now, we believe that the release can potentially occur at any point in the permafrost zone. There are few settlements on Yamal, but they exist. In addition, there is a transport infrastructure. A railway goes to Bovanenkovo. And from the field stretches a line of the main gas pipeline, which runs several kilometers from this crater. And if the release is under the gas pipeline, it will cause great monetary damage.
And if it explodes under the village, there may be victims. Crater formation is a dangerous process because large volumes of soil, ice and gas are instantly emitted. Huge destructive forces of nature are involved. We see only what was "before" and "after". We reconstruct what happens during the active phase on the basis of our own knowledge. But how reliable is it?
If the emissions are associated with climate change, then craters should appear not only in Yamal, but also on other continents … Was there something similar abroad?
- I have not seen articles and reliable reports. However, even on the territory of Russia, the only surveyed form is the funnel at Bovanenkovo. To all the rest - in the area of Antipayuta and the village of Nosok, scientific groups have not yet reached. Our ideas about them are based on the following level: the men were flying - the reindeer breeders saw something - they photographed something.
I am extremely careful about the photos that are posted on the Internet. Because, for example, a steep bank washed away by a lake can be photographed from such an angle that it looks like a crater or funnel. This is not serious.