In 2014, an event occurred that excited the public and scientists. On the Yamal Peninsula, not far from the Bovanenkovo oil and gas condensate field, large funnels in the shape of a giant mushroom were discovered. Specialists who were engaged in an unusual phenomenon, said that natural education is not related to human activities.
Giant funnel in Yamal
After the video appeared on the Web, filmed from a height where a giant failure is visible, an expedition was set up, which made an initial inspection. Around the mine was found an ejection of soil scattered over 120 meters. To determine the depth of the funnel on the Yamal Peninsula, experienced mountain climbers with special equipment, rescuers and researchers, who took soil samples and measured air parameters, went to its center.
Thanks to research, it was possible to prove that the cause of the frightening deep hole was global warming, and not guests from outer space. The mechanism of funnel formation is compared with the release of cork from a bottle of champagne.
Methane explosion
Since no traces of technology were found, so many questions immediately appeared, which could lead to the formation of a funnel on the Yamal Peninsula. Researchers immediately dismissed the popular version of the fall of a large meteorite, because no traces of carbonization were found.
According to scientists, the holes appeared as a result of gas emissions, and even now they continue to increase. When the upper layers of the soil begin to thaw, the methane accumulating in the porous rocks is released. It is contained in permafrost and begins to climb small cracks in the earth's crust. However, it cannot go outside: permafrost prevents it. Under the pressure of compressed combustible gas, the soil swells, forming a huge crater, visible on the plain background, and then an explosion occurs in which frozen soil and upper soil layers are scattered within a radius of several hundred meters. This is how a mysterious funnel formed on the Yamal Peninsula, as evidenced by parts of the soil scattered around its circumference.
Turning into a Tundra Lake
For several years, one "black hole" has turned into a tundra lake and no longer resembles a giant mine at the time of the explosion. After connecting to a nearby thermokarst pond, the depth of the funnel in Yamal is 200 meters. The second is growing at a slower pace. After studies, water samples showed that its chemical composition is very different from other lakes in the region.
The edges of the deep craters on the Yamal Peninsula constantly fail, so being around is dangerous for people's lives.
The emergence of new craters
Since the appearance of the first funnel on the Yamal Peninsula, a photo of which was passed by all the media, new entities have appeared in the territory of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. According to eyewitnesses, a bright flash was observed and black smoke poured out. Natural objects have the same cause of occurrence - global warming, which was predicted by climatologists at the end of the last century. So the tundra reacts to changes occurring on the planet, including this is due to a very hot summer.
Global warming
Some scientists claim that even the abnormal heat of the summer seasons could not lead to uneven melting of permafrost, followed by a powerful explosion of gas. They adhere to the theory that it was global warming that affected the methane emission, because over the past 20 years, permafrost, even at a depth of about 25 meters, has warmed up by two degrees.
Constant satellite observations indicated the presence of more than two dozen new craters of unknown origin.
New combustible gas emission
Last summer, the northern bowels shuddered from a new explosion, which greatly frightened both the local population and the animals living on this territory. On June 28, 2017, an exhaust of such force was recorded that the earth and ice scattered to a distance of up to a thousand meters, and a funnel with a depth of 9-story building appeared in the ground. During the eruption, a gigantic pillar of fire was visible, which was not previously observed. At the site of the explosion, researchers took samples of charred grass and sand.
Unfortunately, without detailed research it is impossible to find out where the new giant funnels on the Yamal Peninsula will appear next time. And scientists recommend that everyone involved in gas production take special care to conquer the northern bowels. Now in many places seismic sensors are installed that record the fluctuations of the earth in the fields.
Security Watch
Experts say that modern equipment will help predict the emergence of new funnels on the Yamal Peninsula (photos are presented in the article).
In addition to oil workers and surveyors, specialists will be employed who understand perfectly what processes are going on in the bowels of the earth. It is necessary to prevent mechanical emissions due to increased pressure in the cavities with huge reserves of swamp gas.