Scientists Uncover Cause of Mysterious Siberian Craters: Climate Change and Methane Explosions Explained

A large natural explosion that leaves huge holes in the Siberian permafrost: scientists have been wondering about this for years. But now it seems that an explanation for these mysterious mega cracks has finally been found.

Ten years ago, the first crack appeared, as if out of nowhere, in the north of Russia. The hole was tens of meters wide, surrounded by pieces of ice and stones, and no one knew why or how it appeared.

Climate change sets everything in motion

More than twenty of these mega craters have now been found in the northern polar regions. The first one, discovered in 2014, had an incredible diameter of seventy meters and reached at least fifty meters deep into the ground. Since then, several copies – and even more – have been added. Scientists suspect that more of these cracks will appear in the future, perhaps even in even larger sizes.

The first explanations were not so surprising: maybe a meteorite had hit, or – who knows – something outside had landed? But according to a new study from CNN, the answer is not so long and the cause of these large holes comes from within: explosions in the frozen ground called permafrost.

Permafrost: the ground that never thaws

Permafrost, as the name suggests, is a permanent frozen ground that covers twenty percent of the Earth’s surface, with much of it in Siberia and the polar regions of Russia.

Beneath this frozen layer lies an unexpected culprit: methane hydrate, a type of ice that traps flammable methane gas. This methane gas is the direct cause of the explosion, but the source of the ignition is global warming, writes CNN.

Methane reservoirs

Rising temperatures melt the permafrost, turning the ice into water. This process creates cracks in the ground, and when such a crack reaches a reservoir of methane, the pressure suddenly drops and the gas explodes up – leading to a devastating explosion.

The output of this underground pressure boiler? Huge mirrors that could be hundreds of meters wide and tens of meters deep. Scientists compare it to a tire that you keep going up until it bursts. It’s almost like a volcanic eruption, with rocks and ice thrown tens of meters into the air.

Devastating explosions

With temperatures continuing to rise, researchers predict that Russia will host more and more of these types of explosive craters in the future. Fortunately for residents, the affected areas are usually sparsely populated, meaning the risk of significant damage to homes or infrastructure is low.

However, scientists like to go into these frozen areas to study the holes. The current theory, described in the journal Advancing Earth & Space Sciences, is still a working hypothesis at the moment, but at least it’s miles away from previous wild theories about meteorites or extraterrestrial visitors.