Craters have been found in Siberia! Should we worry?

9 min readMar 11, 2021

Siberian Geolocation
Siberian ice contains a dangerous virus!
Is this virus dangerous for humans?
Do similar viruses outbreak?
Siberia have a great effect on climate change!
Mysterious big holes are discovered in Siberia! Is this Alien work?
Are craters caused by a volcanic eruption?
The biggest craters(A gateway to underground) lies in Siberia?
Butter gawker crater is the oldest in the world?
Another mysterious crater in Siberia!
What’s Next?

Siberia is populated only 23% and it makes 77% of Russia. In these places, completely uninhabited strange things have been discovered! And many mysterious and unexplained things have happened! Like the Tunguska event. But scientists found something unusual not long ago an unknown virus, That’s been sleeping under the ice for millions of years, And even stranger huge craters are now mysteriously appearing across the frozen Siberian tundra.

What have scientists found and should we be worried about these new discoveries?

Siberian Geolocation

Siberia has many different regions, But the largest is the West Siberian plain. It has one of the world’s largest stretches of continuous flat land. That lies in central Russia this large region is mostly flat and swampy. But the northern portions of the plains are dominated by permafrost that gradually formed over millions of years.

Siberian ice contains a dangerous virus!

In 2014 a team of French microbiologists from the University of ex Marseille were studying ice cores, Taken from 100 feet deep in the permafrost. Where they found something astonishing frozen deep within the ice for 30000 years. An ancient strain of the virus was found entombed along with other frozen organisms. It belongs to a giant class of viruses found 10 years ago and is named Pithovirus Siberian. Until this discovery, no surviving or successfully living sample of the virus had ever been found.

French researchers added bits of ice core samples to colonies of amoeba. They wanted to see If the viruses in the permafrost could infect them? Soon after the single-celled organisms began to die off a sign that something in the permafrost was fatal to them! When the scientists examined the amoeba colonies. They discovered the giant virus measured. One thousand of a millimeter in length and were multiplying inside the amoeba.

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Is this virus dangerous for humans?

More familiar viruses such as the influenza virus have 13 genes And are about 100 nanometers across. But in comparison, giant viruses like Pithovirus can be one thousand times bigger and have more than two thousand five hundred genes.

But is it something we should be worried about?

Thankfully this particular virus does not infect humans or other animals as far as we know. But its ability to survive after being frozen for millennia. Has raised concerns that global climate change and Siberian drilling operations. Could release previously undiscovered and potentially dangerous viruses into our atmosphere!

Do similar viruses outbreak?

A similar scenario of this happening became reality. In 2016 when an anthrax outbreak happened in the Yamato Nenets region of northern Siberia. A heatwave during the summer months raised the temperature of the region to over 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The permafrost melted and exposed the frozen remains of anthrax infected. The anthrax spores were released into the air eight people were infected! And perished people living in the area were evacuated 40 miles away from the outbreak.

Russian government sent in troops trained in biological warfare. To deal with the emergency bacteria was contained, But there is no telling when this could happen again. The idea of an ancient deadly virus being awoken is a scary thought! But the rapidly changing climate is a real concern in Siberia.

Siberia have a great effect on climate change!

Researchers say; The entire northern Siberian region is warming at a rate two and a half times faster than the rest of the planet. Since the 1970s the permafrost has retreated and has reduced in thickness! With temperatures increasing from 2 to 4 degrees over the last 30 years. Could we see another prehistoric virus emerge from the permafrost? Only time will tell, But there is something else incredibly bizarre happening in Siberia! The discovery could endanger the whole planet over the past several years.

Mysterious big holes are discovered in Siberia! Is this Alien work?

Mysterious craters have been found in the Yamal peninsula region of northwest Siberia, And scientists aren’t exactly sure what could have created them! In July 2014 the first crater was found when Russian helicopter pilots spotted the mysterious hull in the permafrost. Which seemed to appear out of nowhere. This crater ripped out of the frozen ground was 65 feet in diameter, And more than half a football field. Deep blocks of ice and dirt were flung hundreds of feet from the center of the crater.

It appeared the open hole quickly filled with water forming a lake. Something very powerful had to create such a big explosion And leave such a huge hole in the ground. No one’s actually seen an explosion or caught one on camera, But in 2017 a reindeer herder reported a loud blast and smoke rising from the ground. Later a crater with a 25-foot diameter and 65 feet deep was discovered surrounded by big blocks of ice and chunks of soil.

Are craters caused by a volcanic eruption?

Despite what you might think the explosions coming from! These are nothing like you would see from volcano ice. Volcanoes are up much different. These holes are likely created from the explosive combination of methane gas ice water and mud. But they don’t really explode as much as eject! The material such as a volcano erupts with lava a mound begins to grow called a pingo. When the pressure inside becomes too great. They burst open gas pockets under the mounds that come from the permafrost. Which melt very quickly and even small temperature changes of sediments produce huge amounts of methane gas.

A major source of methane is organic matter. Made of dead plants and animals that have been frozen deep in the permafrost for thousands of years. As the organic matter decays it gets eaten and digested by bacteria that produce either carbon dioxide or methane as waste. If the ground thaws then it releases carbon dioxide or methane into the atmosphere, And this is a big problem for the planet Because methane gas can very efficiently absorb heat in the earth’s atmosphere! And is 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Considering how big some of the hulls are it would likely be dangerous if someone were close enough where gas could erupt. Since this land isn’t occupied then it’s not a big threat to people. Russian scientists say there are many thousands of these mounds and some of them appear to be growing ready to explode into craters. The latest of these craters were found in September 2020. When a bubble of methane gas that had been swelling under the melting permafrost burst open to form a big 164-foot deep crater.

The biggest craters(A gateway to underground) lies in Siberia?

So far there have been around 20 of these craters discovered. These are not the only craters to have been found! There is something even bigger and more ominous massive slumps are also starting to form. The biggest of these is the butter gawker crater known to locals as the gateway to the underworld! Batagaker is the biggest permafrost crater in the world and lies in the east Siberian toga ecoregion. The land here began to sink after forests around the sea were cleared. Causing a thawing of permafrost.

In the 1960s without the cooling effects of the trees. The frozen soil started to melt causing it to collapse and slump. Now, this yawning pit is more than half a mile wide and 328 feet deep! The crater is always alive and growing at an alarming rate about 30 to 100 feet per year when the weather is warm. Researchers can hear the constant crackling of melting ice and hear groans as big slabs of permafrost. Some as big as cars break and fall off the headwall like the smaller craters butter.

Butter gawker crater is the oldest in the world?

The crater is also releasing previously trapped carbon dioxide and methane gases into the atmosphere accelerating climate change. Researchers have been taking samples from the crater and the bottom layers of permafrost are dated to 650000 years old! The oldest permafrost in the world remnants of ancient forests can be found here preserved for eons in the permafrost. Researchers say sediment layers in the crater could reveal thousands of years of the earth’s history!

As the crater expands scientists are discovering well-preserved remains of plants and animals that have been extinct. Since the ice age with all these craters being found, scientists are warning that Siberia’s melting permafrost could become a major environmental disaster! Now scientists have found a startling number of 7000 mounds or pingos! Which could be gas-filled bubbles ready to explode at any time now! Work is being done to try and figure out which of these are dangerous or not!

Another mysterious crater in Siberia!

Scientists believe they understand these craters. How they’re formed and what problems they pose for the environment. But there is another mysterious crater in Siberia and no one’s exactly sure how it was created and where it came from! The ptomsky crater was discovered in the ercusk region in southeastern Siberia in 1945 by a geologist named Vadim kolpakov. It was named after the potomsky river local residents called it the nest of the fire eagle. The cone of this crater has a very strange shape with a small mound in the center. Which is 130 feet tall and 100 meters across at the base by counting three rings growing on the crater.

Scientists calculated the crater to be around 250 years old. But the strange thing is that the trees around the crater show accelerated growth. Similar to the growth seen in forests around Chernobyl after the nuclear disaster in 1986. Since the crater was discovered many have tried to figure out what created it! Some researchers have tried to link it to the Tunguska meteorite which still has not been discovered!

Some believe it’s the remnants of some type of volcano. But no volcanic material has ever been found. In fact, the entire structure consists of broken grey limestone. Modern geomorphologists believe the potomsky crater could be a very rare gas volcano event for vast stores of underground gases!

What’s Next?

The mystery still continues and there’s no solid evidence as to how it was created. Perhaps one day we’ll have the answers to this and more! So make sure to stay tuned here for more exciting and incredible things happening on the planet.