Yamal Peninsula, Siberia, a funnel-like hole estimated to be around 50 meters deep has been discovered in a remote area of the arctic.
It was accidently discovered from the air by a Vesti Yamal television crew en route from an unrelated assignment, the mysterious bowl is the latest to be spotted in northen Siberia since the phenomenon was originally documented in 2014.Chunks of oil and ice were thrown hundreds of meters around he funnel, which scientists say it is the result of methane gas builups in pockets of thawing permafrost under the surface of te Earth. As pressure increases, the “lid” of the pocket is blown off and the methane gas is released.
Professor Vasily Bogoyavlensky, of the Russian Oil and Gas Research Institute in Moscow, said, “This object is unique. It carries a lot of additional scientific information, which I am not yet ready to disclose.”
“In a literal sense, it is a void space filled with gas with high pressure,” Bogoyavlensky added. “The covering layer distends, the thickness of which is 5-10 meters approximately.”
Human activities, such as gas drilling could be one of the factors in the forming of these craters. This also comes with the risk of such structures forming close to a gas pipeline, production facilities, or residential areas.
Source: Oddity Central, YouTube