Slashdot Mirror


Giant Crater Appears In Northern Siberia

New submitter DavidMZ writes: The Siberian Times reports on a large crater of unknown origin that has appeared in the Yamal Peninsula in northern Siberia. The Russian government has dispatched a group of scientists to investigate the 80-meter-wide crater. Anna Kurchatova from Siberia's Sub-Arctic Scientific Research Center believes the crater was a result of an explosion when a mixture of water, salt, and natural gas exploded underground. The Yamai Peninsula is known to hold Russia's biggest natural gas reserve."

75 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Where are the giant hands of Goatse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hmmm?

    1. Re:Where are the giant hands of Goatse? by SQLGuru · · Score: 4, Informative

      And yet again, the Internet has lived up to my expectations.

    2. Re:Where are the giant hands of Goatse? by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

      They are invisible, haven't you read Adam Smith?

    3. Re:Where are the giant hands of Goatse? by rolfwind · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ah, the economy makes a lot more sense now.

  2. Sequel? by B33rNinj4 · · Score: 1

    Is this some "found footage" for a Core sequel or reboot?

  3. Oh shit... it's Silurians! by sconeu · · Score: 4, Funny

    Where is the Doctor when we need him?

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    1. Re:Oh shit... it's Silurians! by SternisheFan · · Score: 1
      Not The Doctor, this looks like a job for Superman! Because it's gotta' be the Molemen beginning the invasion...

      www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEVNS3hWBwY

    2. Re:Oh shit... it's Silurians! by SternisheFan · · Score: 1

      Meant to paste this link... www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0jAYRJJAiA

  4. As Always ... by Baby+Duck · · Score: 5, Funny

    Let me guess. The explosion was caught on a Russian dashcam, amirite?

    --

    "Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins

  5. Headline has the wrong tense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "it is believed to have been formed around two years ago"

  6. Crater dimensions by Snufu · · Score: 1

    1:4:9?

  7. nothing new by darkob · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are thousends upon thousends of similar holes (all filled with water) on Yamal peninsula. Many are few kilometers in diameter, most are smaller. This one may be new, but quite common in the area. Obviously it's due to gas eruptions of some kind. Landscape is like from the LOTR.

    1. Re:nothing new by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Funny

      and even more in Blackburn Lancashire.

    2. Re:nothing new by TheOriginalRevdoc · · Score: 4, Informative

      These are probably melted pingos. http://www.smh.com.au/world/op...

    3. Re:nothing new by Smask · · Score: 1

      Those lakes are formed by permafrost. There are similar lakes in the northernmost part of Alaska and Canada. Don't know if they are the result of gas seeping out of the upper layers of the tundra or some chemical process like karst lake formation.

    4. Re:nothing new by alvinrod · · Score: 4, Informative

      But those holes were rather small. This one is reported to by 80 meters wide, which coincidentally is rather similar to the dimensions of the (Royal) Albert Hall which is oval-shaped with a length and width of 83 and 72 meters according to Wikipedia.

    5. Re:nothing new by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But those holes were rather small....

      Though the holes were rather small, they still had to count them all.

    6. Re:nothing new by azav · · Score: 1

      thousands*

      --
      - Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
    7. Re:nothing new by gtall · · Score: 1

      So what you are saying is that the natives have been eating too many beans? It seems this valuable energy source should be harvested.

    8. Re:nothing new by RivenAleem · · Score: 1

      Damn Fracking!

    9. Re:nothing new by Toad-san · · Score: 1

      All permafrost pretty much looks like that. Tons of images online from Alaska and Canada, none of which have anything to do with natural gas or gas eruptions. The other holes up there don't have huge caverns beneath them (well, so far as we can tell). And the water is relatively shallow.

    10. Re:nothing new by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      That would be high on my shopping list of reasons.

      It begs the next question of what has changed to cause the pingoes to melt? And here come the climate-change deniers!

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    11. Re:nothing new by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Eeeewwwww

  8. Fracking Orifice? by Bob_Who · · Score: 2

    Explosive frackulence

    1. Re:Fracking Orifice? by war4peace · · Score: 4, Funny

      They just found the asshole of the Earth.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  9. Re:Wasn't that a movie? by Z00L00K · · Score: 2

    Possibly, but what I find more surprising is that someone was able to discover such a small crater. 80m isn't big relative to how big Siberia is. It must have been in someone's backyard.

    Maybe it was just Ivan's still or meth lab that exploded.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
  10. Hmmmm indeed by djupedal · · Score: 1

    That giant hole shows burn marks, people.... BURN MARKS!!!!

  11. black hole caused by a black hole by shitner · · Score: 1, Insightful

    scary thought, but what if it is an entry point of a miniature black hole?

    1. Re:black hole caused by a black hole by ArcadeMan · · Score: 4, Funny

      Then it's gonna suck.

    2. Re:black hole caused by a black hole by mbone · · Score: 4, Informative

      It would be more likely to be the exit point of a miniature black hole. The entry point would likely be a very small hole.*

      I call these exit wounds; the physics is that the exiting hypervelocity thing sets up a shock wave moving matter out of the way, and it's the shock wave excavates the material in the hole. (Even a black hole does this; a decent sized one (say 10^10 kg) is very small, so not much matter would be eaten during a transit of the Earth. It does, however, pull matter towards it and its wake sets up an explosive shock wave that fractures and evacuates material.)

      * A black hole the mass of the Sun would have a radius of ~ 3 km, so one the mass of the Earth is a few mm, and a likely primordial black hole, with a mass of maybe 10^10 kg, would have a radius of 10^-17 m, or well below the size of an atomic nucleus. Such a small black hole would not "eat" much in its passage through the Earth, which might take 20 - 40 seconds or so, because not much would actually hit it. It's gravitational wake, however, would be another matter. Such a primordial black hole would leave a tiny entrance wound, but a large exit wound.

  12. Could it be ALIENS? by jzarling · · Score: 1

    Giorgio A. Tsoukalos wants to know.

    --
    It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
    1. Re:Could it be ALIENS? by timrod · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying the hole is the impact crater left from an alien landing.. but it was. It was aliens.

    2. Re:Could it be ALIENS? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      You completely destroyed the punchline...

      "I'm not saying the hole is the impact crater left from an alien landing... but it was aliens."

    3. Re:Could it be ALIENS? by gtall · · Score: 1

      C'mon, this Giorgio, he KNOWS it was aliens.

  13. Please dont toss a match in by Justpin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Derweze they found large gas deposits, a crane collapsed on-site and caused a rush of natural gas to the surface. USSR scientists thought it was best to burn it to reduce the environmental impact. That was in 1971, it is still burning.

    1. Re:Please dont toss a match in by SailorSpork · · Score: 4, Informative

      They call it "The Door to Hell." Video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    2. Re:Please dont toss a match in by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      They were wrong. They could have capped it off, albeit at great expense. Now, they can't.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Please dont toss a match in by geekoid · · Score: 1

      What do you base that on?
      What makes you think they would have capped it properly? They clearly didn't know how much gas was there.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    4. Re:Please dont toss a match in by jbmartin6 · · Score: 2

      They should start a Burning Man style festival there.

      --
      This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
    5. Re:Please dont toss a match in by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      That's actually a standard technique - a required action in some jurisdictions. If you've got significant H2S (hydrogen sulphide) in the gas stream, then burning it to produce the much less poisonous sulphur dioxide may the correct thing to do.

      The sequence of events that you relate implies that there was both significant H2S, and some sort of collapse of the surface casing and wellhead, which would have prevented bullheading and capping the well. If the well had been drilled under recent UK, Norwegian, Dutch or Canadian regulations, they'd have had to have identified locations for drilling relief wells before spudding the first well. But you're talking about 1970s Russia, so that's not really helpful. However it is MUCH easier to drill a relief well from a nearby location if you don't have to do all the work in breathing apparatus. Hence the flare pistol in the company man's cabin, in a box labelled "last resort".

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    6. Re:Please dont toss a match in by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      Ah, quick question : outside a certain John Wayne movie, how many blowouts have you had to study and write exam answers on?

      I know that I don't know the details of this blowout ; clearly you've got much better clairvoyance than I have. Fortunately, I've never had to put my well control training into practice, but that's because a large part of my job for the last couple of decades has been to prevent such things from happening by thinking before doing.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    7. Re:Please dont toss a match in by Justpin · · Score: 1

      How many times has that pistol been used? Also do you have a high speed camera for a dramatic slow motion shot of running away from the fireball, or a cool pair of sunglasses so you can walk away from the huge fireball? heh

    8. Re:Please dont toss a match in by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      How many times has that pistol been used?

      Often enough.

      Also do you have a high speed camera for a dramatic slow motion shot

      Why? to fulfil your desire for snuff porn?

      heh

      Not laughing. People die in this sort of event.

      I just checked again. Your desire for snuff pornography of my friends and colleagues dieing still doesn't cause me hilarity.

      I was offshore when this happened. Our radio operator relayed the "abandoning radio room" message at 2:50 into that video, and I still can't watch any more. We flew home (and back out to work) over the smouldering stump that was the grave of 167 of our friends and colleagues for the next 3 months, until the flight paths were finally changed.

      You know, I'm still not breaking out into laughter.

      Remember that next time you fill up your car.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  14. Warn Tokyo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It hatched.

  15. Re:Wasn't that a movie? by CRCulver · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sadly I have to agree. Doing fieldwork among Russian villagers, I had long been used to the appalling prevalance of alcoholism among the male population, but the rise in heroin use (or heroin substitute use like krokodil) is yet another nail in the demographic suicide coffin.

    That said, the Yamal Peninsula is Nenets country, and while alcoholism is known among that population, I'd be surprised if hard drug were common there yet, as it is probably off the supply chain.

  16. Deep ice hole? Oh no! by scorp1us · · Score: 1
    --
    Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
  17. Ooh ooh! I know what it is...! by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 1

    ..it's an Exogorth Lair!

    --

    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

  18. Re:Wasn't that a movie? by parkinglot777 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    what I find more surprising is that someone was able to discover such a small crater. 80m isn't big relative to how big Siberia is.

    True that it is not that big. But would you consider monitoring area + taking images from satellite(s) as the reason? Why would they monitor the whole area? I don't know. But images from satellite nowadays are much much higher resolution (compared to 15~20 years ago when I was using them on my study) and could easily be analysed using a computer software. So any changes in the area would alert those who are monitoring.

  19. Gopher Overlords! by MonkeyBob · · Score: 1

    All Hail our Gopher Overlords!

    --
    // TODO: Add comments
  20. Some thoughts by mbone · · Score: 4, Interesting

    First, if this is 80 meters in diameter, or 40 meters in radius, and say at a minimum 40 meters deep, that’ s not quite 10^9 kg of soil moved up order 40 meters, requiring (very roughly) the equivalent of 60 tons of TNT, at a minimum, and thus an equivalent magnitude of ~ 3.2 (again, roughly). Such an explosion should be detectable on seismological networks, such as the ones looking for nuclear testing.

    Second, there is another mystery crater in Siberia - the Patomskiy crater. This one is in rock, not sediment, is about 160 meters in diameter, and is maybe 300 years old, but I have to wonder if they have a similar cause.

    Third, I am interested in quark nuggets and other types of condensed matter, such as Q-Balls, generically called Compact UltraDense Objects (CUDOs) by Jan Rafelski of U. Arizona. If these things exist in the appropriate masses, they could cause holes such as this and the Patomskiy crater. Even better, if this were to be caused by transiting CUDO, it would cause a "linear earthquake, which should be easily recognizable in the seismic record.

    1. Re:Some thoughts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Second, there is another mystery crater in Siberia - the Patomskiy crater [siberiantimes.com]. This one is in rock, not sediment, is about 160 meters in diameter, and is maybe 300 years old, but I have to wonder if they have a similar cause

      Interesting link, but nothing at all seems similar to this new hole in the ground.

    2. Re:Some thoughts by mbone · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Patomskiy Crater is in solid rock, this new one is in soft sediment. Solid rock requires energy to fracture, and it is thus less likely to be removed from an excavation. By the way, these sorts of holes (assuming that they are explosive in origin) are similar to "bench-blasting" in explosives work; there is a huge literature on this.

    3. Re:Some thoughts by Solandri · · Score: 2

      First, if this is 80 meters in diameter, or 40 meters in radius

      That's one big-ass sandworm. (Look at the pic - it's not a crater, it's just a hole in the ground.)

    4. Re:Some thoughts by Commontwist · · Score: 2

      I wonder if the scientists who go out there will bring along some drones to check out that monster hole and display some mad drone skillz. It would be neat if they did it similar to how some engineers used a drone to check out a Corevette car museum that got noshed upon by a sinkhole.

    5. Re:Some thoughts by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Second, there is another mystery crater in Siberia - the Patomskiy crater [siberiantimes.com]. This one is in rock, not sediment, is about 160 meters in diameter, and is maybe 300 years old, but I have to wonder if they have a similar cause.

      Now that is a very interesting phenomenon. Very, very interesting.

      Time to put on my geologist (hard) hat again.

      My first impression was "kimberlite diatreme?" Subsequent reading of the rest of the article certainly leaves the hypothesis on the table. Since we've never (yet, knowingly) seen a kimberlite eruption (or lamproite for that matter - similar but generally less potassic than kimberlites and also typically associated with vigorously eruptive textures and field relations ; I was cycling past a Devonian lamproite pipe just this weekend which I haven't looked at since 1985).

      I suppose I'd better Google it ... not a lot of good info. I've contacted my national geological society (of which I'm a fellow) to see if anyone else has better info.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    6. Re:Some thoughts by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Why use a drone if you're flying in by helicopter, with your camp, food, etc? Just do standard aerial photography ; you've got the tools to hand already.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  21. Re:Y E T I !!! by Bob_Who · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's* the Yeti it's = it is Learn this.

    Your rite. I cun't tipe gooder for ewe.

  22. Re:What peninsula? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

    I bIame sans-serif fonts.

  23. Further towards the tipping point... by Misagon · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are lots of gas pockets in Siberian and under the polar seas that are locked by cold temperatures only. As warming increases, more and more of these will burst, accelerating climate change.

    Scientists have been warning of these for many years. There has been lots of talks about a "tipping point" after which no reduction in man's greenhouse gas emissions would have any effect, when carbon levels in the atmosphere could increase because of cascading natural gas eruptions alone.
    This is why it is so important to reduce carbon emissions.

    --
    "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
    1. Re:Further towards the tipping point... by gaiageek · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Informative, and I wish I had mod points to mod this up. Relevant article here: http://www.news.cornell.edu/st...

  24. Re:How deep? by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    They probably hook up to those sinkholes in Guatemala.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  25. unnatural by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure this new crater is just Nikola Tesla playing with his time machine again. After what he did to Tunguska, you'd think Russia would just ask him nicely to stay away or do his experiments in Canada or something.

    Hell, he could do them in Alberta and nobody would notice if the whole province was sent 50 years back in time. Except the hockey players wouldn't be wearing helmets. They'd notice that right away.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  26. Sandworm by riverat1 · · Score: 2

    The hole is about the right size for one of Dune's sandworms.

  27. Re:Wasn't that a movie? by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1

    The summary says "giant". So there you have it.

    --
    This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
  28. Move along, nothing to see here... by hAckz0r · · Score: 2
    Maxwel Smart agent 86 just prevented KAOS from turning their Super-laser on to the US Capital building last year. Unfortunately, as usual, he tripped over the power cord and spun the lazer around and blew a 40 meter hole in the USSR Siberian outback before his food tangled and pulled out the power cord. That incident of course caused a fair amount of damage and eventually forced the KAOS spaceship to perform an emergancy landing right behind the CONTROL building parking lot. Furtunatly 99 prevented Hyimie from repairing the craft which would have allowed the KAOS agents to excape. The Chief is in protracted negotiations with the Kremlin over the loss of the summer vacation home that was said to be on that property.

    I'm guessing that less than 2% of you know probably what the heck I'm talking about here.

    1. Re:Move along, nothing to see here... by El_Oscuro · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing that less than 2% of you know probably what the heck I'm talking about here.

      Missed it by THAT much? Agent 86 once said that after he almost shot his dick off. I wonder if he ever screwed Agent 99? Man, I used to think she was hot. And the Cone of Silence? I saw a real one in action while on jury duty once. The judge lowered this stupid contraption when he was talking with the lawyers. It made this white noise which gave everyone headaches but I had no problem hearing their entire conversation from the other side of the room...

      --
      "Be grateful for what you have. You may never know when you may lose it."
  29. Ow, my ears! by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    As if the loud (and completely unnecessary)noise of the helicopter on the video wasn't enough, did you have to keep it on the slowed down part of the video so that it sounds like the belching roar of Satan himself?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:Ow, my ears! by MrKaos · · Score: 1

      As if the loud (and completely unnecessary)noise of the helicopter on the video wasn't enough, did you have to keep it on the slowed down part of the video so that it sounds like the belching roar of Satan himself?

      It wasn't belching you heard.

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  30. Like Florida by JimSadler · · Score: 1

    We have large craters opening all the time in certain parts of Florida. Suddenly forming sink holes swallow people and homes in a single gulp. It seems that we have sucked so much water out of the ground that collapses occur suddenly. One poor guy went under with half of his home and it was deep enough that his body could not be retrieved. In effect the man fell into hell on his own bed.

  31. Re:Y E T I !!! by Grog6 · · Score: 1

    I read it as IT was the Yeti, implying an imminent attack by a hoard of Pennywise the Clowns Appearing as Yeti.

    I'm very happy to see this is not the case.

    Carry on with the pedantry.

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  32. wow by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    "large enough for several Mi-8 helicopters to fly into it - not that they have."
    "the dark colour of the crater indicates 'some temperature processes', without explaining more what they may mean"
    " it could be caused by a space object - perhaps a meteorite...We can definitely say that it is not a meteorite. No details yet,"
    "one web claim suggested - evidence 'of the arrival of a UFO craft' to the planet."
    That's some quality journalism right there.

  33. Sorry by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

    It was a joke that got out of hand.

    --
    Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
  34. The War of the Worlds, Ch. Two: The Falling Star by MancunianMaskMan · · Score: 1

    An enormous hole had been made by the impact of the projectile, and the sand and gravel had been flung violently in every direction over the heath, forming heaps visible a mile and a half away. The heather was on fire eastward, and a thin blue smoke rose against the dawn. Link here (e.g.)

  35. Re:Wasn't that a movie? by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

    But would you consider monitoring area + taking images from satellite(s) as the reason? Why would they monitor the whole area? I don't know.

    As TFA says, there are a considerable number of gas pipelines in the area, so they'll be doing regular surveying to check for movement of foundations for the pipelines. Permafrost is notoroiously unstable, particularly once you start to do building on it. That, in itself, is sufficient to justify a lot of monitoring.

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  36. Re:Putin's new deterrent. by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
    You'd have to get them there first.

    Oh hang on - you probably don't know where the Yamal-Nenets peninsula is, do you? Fucking Anonymous Retard.

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"