Siberian Sinkholes

You’ve heard about the Earth opening up and swallowing entire swathes of land in both apocalyptic fiction and academic climate change reports. In the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia, though, exactly that seems to have been happening for the past few years.

The huge hole, which is at least the ninth to have been discovered in the area since 2013, is not fully understood by scientists. When the first crater was found in the Yamal Peninsula in northwest Siberia close to an oil and gas field, initial hypotheses included a meteorite impact, a UFO landing, and the collapse of a covert subterranean military storage facility.

When a 2017 study counted more than 7,000 of them spread across the terrain, scientists had only found roughly 15 of them as of 2016. They are a result of methane and other greenhouse gases that are trapped beneath the permafrost. Over time, as it becomes weaker and thinner, the gases have an easier time escaping, leaving behind enormous, potentially fatal sinkholes.

Location: Yamal Peninsula, Siberia