A new chasm 30 meters deep and about 20 meters wide has opened in the Siberian tundra. The hole was discovered this summer by a Russian TV crew who flew over the area, where eight more have been sighted since 2013. The first was found near an oil field in the Yamal peninsula, in the Siberian Northwest.
Arctic, methane bubbles under the permafrost. “The ice melts and releases gas”
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It happens more and more often that with the melting of the ice craters emerge (in English, sinkhole) that are formed in the permafrost, on which some of the most imaginative hypotheses and legends have flourished for years, ranging from the fall of meteorites to the landing of UFOs. Scientists actually believe that the chasms are a consequence of the explosion of methane bubbles enclosed under the ice sheet which, once melted, reveals the deep openings in the ground. A phenomenon known for some time but still largely shrouded in mystery, which scholars believe is favored by the increase in temperatures. Experts are also worried about the release of the gas into the atmosphere which adds to greenhouse gas emissions and consequently contributes to global warming. But it is not known for sure how these craters are formed or how many exist, he explained to CNN Evgeny chuvilin, a permafrost expert from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology. Also because they are often identified by chance but not reported by the shepherds who take the herds to pasture after the winter period and then, within one or two years, they become small lakes. According to Chuvilin “the frost that precedes a crater usually forms quite quickly and therefore it is difficult to observe the phenomenon in progress. In fact, almost all the craters were discovered when the chasm had already opened”.
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