Massive crater appears at 'end of the earth' in Russia - Tucson News Now

YAMAL PENINSULA, SIBERIA (RNN) – An area of Siberia known as “the end of the earth” has a recently-discovered, large crater denting its surface.

Helicopters spotted the mysterious crater on July 10, and it’s estimated to be more than 328 feet in diameter, according to the Siberian Times. 

Anna Kurchatova of The Siberia’s Sub-Arctic Scientific Research Center told the Times that the crater was likely caused by an underground explosion that happened as a result of global warming.

“She postulates that gas accumulated in ice mixed with sand beneath the surface, and that this was mixed with salt – some 10,000 years ago, this area was a sea,” the Times writes.

The crater is 20 miles from Russia’s most important and largest natural gas and oil area, the Bovanenkovo field. The oil field was first discovered in 1972. According to Industry Week, the Bovanenkovo field is home to an estimated 177 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The area is also known for reindeer herds, migratory birds and woolly mammoth fossils, according to the Times.

Experts from the Center for the Study of the Arctic and Russian Academy of Sciences plan to travel to the area and collect soil, water and air samples to investigate the reasons for the crater’s appearance.

Scientists have also dismissed the possibilities of a meteorite or UFO landing in the area.

Yamal is translated “end of the earth” by the area’s indigenous population, the Nenets. The peninsula, located on the northwestern point of the Russian continent, is mostly permafrost and is largely underdeveloped, jutting beyond the Arctic Circle. The region is also one of the youngest areas geologically in the world. 

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