One of the most discussed topics of the past year was the discovery in Siberia of many strange craters that appeared literally out of nowhere. Fierce disputes immediately flared up about their nature, but only now scientists began to get closer to solving the phenomenon.
HOLE IN THE EARTH
The first reports of strange anomalies began to come from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in mid-July 2014, when helicopter pilots serving the Bovanenkovskoye gas field discovered a huge sinkhole in the ground near the floodplain of the Mordyyakha River.
Later it turned out that local residents from among the representatives of indigenous peoples faced similar phenomena back in September 2013. Then, according to the statements of the reindeer herders, in the middle of the tundra they stumbled upon a huge gaping hole in the soil, surrounded by an earthen embankment, as if the soil had been thrown out of the depths by some unprecedented force.
Individual clods of earth were scattered within a radius of 120 meters from the hole. The slopes of the funnel, at first sloping, then abruptly dropped downward, forming a vertical smooth wall. The reindeer herders did not see the bottom, as they were afraid to come close to the edge of the cliff.
Subsequently, it was found that the depth of such dips is at least one hundred meters, and at the bottom of some of them underground rivers flow.
The first crater found turned out to be the largest - about eighty meters in diameter. In the summer of 2014, six more strange craters of a smaller size were discovered - however, even then scientists did not exclude that their number could be much larger.
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To date, this assumption has been confirmed: thanks to satellite imagery on the Yamal Peninsula, more than twenty similar failures have been found, and their number is slowly but surely growing.
To this day, it has not been possible to observe the process of crater formation, but nevertheless, scientists have discovered certain patterns. First of all, the concentration of failures in certain areas. All of them are relatively close to each other, which indicates at least the same source of origin of the mysterious Siberian holes.
Another regularity is the proximity of the sinkholes to natural gas fields. In particular, the largest of the craters, conventionally called by scientists "B2", is located not far from the largest Russian gas well.
According to a number of researchers, the Yamal Peninsula may hide even more craters that have not yet been discovered by scientists and local residents. This is easy to believe, given the size of the peninsula - 700 by 240 kilometers - and its extremely small population. In addition, many of the anomalous holes could be flooded with water and turn into lakes, of which there are a great many on the peninsula. It is extremely difficult to recognize a former sinkhole in a reservoir without special research.
Map showing the largest Siberian craters
GUESS AND ASSUMPTIONS
From the very beginning, the appearance of holes in the ground caused a lot of guesses and the most daring hypotheses - these formations were too unusual, for too long scientists could not put forward an official version so as not to suspect the action of anomalous forces.
The range of theories offered by independent researchers was the widest. The first step was the assumption of the fall of meteorites - but it was quickly shallowed. The Siberian sinkholes were too different from the meteorite craters, moreover, no traces of the fall of space fireballs were found on their bottom.
Some ufologists have suggested that the craters are the traces of alien ships that have taken off from the ground. This assumption brings to mind the theory of the hollow earth. According to her, our planet has vast voids inside, in which its own civilization could develop or aliens from other worlds could settle.
Crater in Antipayuta
Despite the assertions about the absurdity of this theory, which can sometimes be heard, everything is not as simple as it seems to skeptics. We can find the idea of the existence inside our planet of vast spaces suitable for life in the mythology of peoples living in different parts of the world and not in contact with each other until relatively recently.
Greek Hades, Indian Agharti, Scandinavian Svartalfheim, Christian hell - too many peoples and cultures talked about the underworld to completely ignore the possibility of its existence. Moreover, many representatives of the scientific world at one time were inclined to believe that there are free spaces inside the Earth suitable for life.
Among them are the great mathematician Rene Descartes and the famous English astronomer Edmond Halley. In 1969, Dr. Raymond Bernard published a book in which he first put forward the theory of the underground origin of unidentified flying objects. Bernard himself was actively looking for secret entrances to the underworld all over the planet - until he mysteriously disappeared while exploring the caves of South America.
Supporters of the hollow Earth theory have traditionally argued that aliens from under the surface of the SHS get out into our world in the circumpolar regions. The Yamal Peninsula perfectly fits the definition of a "circumpolar region", so some believe that it could become a place where underground inhabitants emerge.
In this case, the Siberian craters represent the trail of tunnels drilled to move UFOs, and then prudently closed from the prying eyes of representatives of our civilization.
Another version, which is worth mentioning, says that the Siberian sinkholes are traces of the testing of top-secret tectonic weapons. Currently, no country in the world possesses it, however, the fundamental possibility of its creation has been discussed for a long time.
A tectonic weapon is a hypothetical device capable of provoking earthquakes, mudflows, rockfalls and other phenomena of a similar nature in a certain area. The advantage is that with all its destructive power, its action can be disguised as natural disasters.
Consequently, attacks made with tectonic weapons will not indicate their organizer. It is likely that this circumstance has attracted attention on both sides of the ocean.
Yamal is an excellent testing ground for such weapons. The peninsula is located on a lithospheric plate, so the use of tectonic weapons on it minimizes the risk of an uncontrolled natural earthquake. The small population of this remote area of land almost completely eliminates human casualties in case something goes wrong, and in addition, makes it possible to easily maintain the secrecy of tests.
If secret tests were really carried out on Yamal, then it becomes clear why until now no one has seen, even with the use of satellite imagery, how craters are formed. The testers are clearly trying to avoid unnecessary attention to themselves and simply do not give scientists access to satellite information that could reveal the secrets of the technologies used to create strange craters.
FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF SCIENCE
Academics, however, disagree with any of the above theories. Instead, after spending the last months in research, they presented their own explanation for the origin of the mysterious holes, blaming climate change for everything.
Russian scientists went on an expedition to Yamal in the summer of 2014. They were cryolithologists and glaciologists - specialists in permafrost and glaciers; geologists and hydrologists are a very representative troop from the leading research institutes and laboratories of our country.
The whole earth is dotted with holes that have become lakes
First, they surveyed the largest crater, a kilometer in diameter, and then six smaller dips. The members of the expedition studied the soil around the craters, examined their interior, and took soil and ice samples. They also managed to go down to the bottom of the mysterious holes, to measure the level of radiation. By the way, the latter made it possible to immediately dismiss the version of the meteoric origin of the Yamal craters: the slightly increased background radiation, characteristic of the places where space guests fell, was completely absent in them.
But in the air in the area of a natural anomaly, gas analyzers recorded an increased content of methane. At the bottom of the crater, its concentration turned out to be prohibitively high - 9.6 percent. This, ultimately, led experts to the conclusion: there was a release of gas hydrates on the peninsula.
This is due to the melting of permafrost, provoked by global warming. The disappearance of underground ice led to loosening of the soil, which, in turn, caused a breakthrough to the surface of the gas that had accumulated in the bowels of the Yamal Peninsula for thousands of years. The researchers argue that this process can be compared to a volcanic eruption: underground, as the ice melted, methane accumulated, pressure increased. Eventually it became too high, the soil broke down, and an explosion occurred, leading to the formation of a crater.
It is curious that, according to some versions, similar processes are observed in the famous Bermuda Triangle: because of the heating of the water, the methane ice found at the bottom begins to rapidly melt, and ships sink in the ocean, oversaturated with gas, and because of turbulence in the atmosphere, they fall aircraft.
Scientists warn that in the near future new craters may appear on the peninsula: the bowels of Yamal contain one-fifth of Russia's natural gas reserves, and global warming is only gaining momentum. Melting permafrost and methane breakthroughs to the surface could jeopardize the existence of the gas industry in the region, which would seriously damage the Russian economy.
Even small emissions of gas can seriously damage the equipment of drilling rigs, in addition, they are fraught with fire. It’s scary to even imagine what will happen in the event of a kilometer-long sinkhole under the workers' settlement.
Lake in Yamal with traces of methane release on the surface
According to experts, if the average annual temperature on our planet continues to grow, then similar funnels may begin to appear in other places, which may pose a threat to the cities of the Far North. In the worst case scenario, the scale of the disaster can become truly catastrophic.
Gas reserves on the peninsula are estimated at fourteen thousand cubic kilometers, which is comparable to the volume of water in many seas. Its main reserves lie at a depth of about a kilometer and are under pressure of five hundred atmospheres, and if at least in one place there is an opportunity for these volumes to come to the surface, this will not only lead to a giant dip, but also cause a sharp change in the planet's climate.
Methane is a greenhouse gas and far more potent than carbon dioxide. Its appearance in the atmosphere in large volumes can lead to rapid warming, which will provoke a real ecological disaster.