Mysterious giant hole appears in Siberia's 'End of the World' (video)



Scientists are baffled by a mysterious 80-metre wide crater that has appeared in northern Siberia.

The giant crater revealed a massive sinkhole in the Yamal Peninsula, northern Russia, which is an area known for being rich in natural gas.

According to The Siberian Times, the hole was spotted by helicopters and a scientific team was sent to the scene on Wednesday to investigate.

A Yamal Emergencies Ministry spokesman said: "We can definitely say that it is not a meteorite. No details yet."

Anna Kurchatova from the Sub-Arctic Scientific Research Centre believes it was formed by a water, salt and gas mixture igniting an underground explosion, and was the result of global warming.

Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that an Australian polar scientist believes it is probably a melted ice formation.

Dr Chris Fogwill said: "Certainly from the images I've seen it looks like a periglacial feature, perhaps a collapsed pingo."

A pingo is a block of ice grown into a small hill in the frozen arctic ground. It can push through the earth and when it melts it leaves a crater.

Yamal is a remote part of Russia, which translates as 'the end of the world'.



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