#thecosmosnews In Siberia, Giant Craters Sparked Dozens of Wild Theories About their Origins. Thawing Permafrost has Shaped the Largest of its Kind, The Batagaika Crater

A dramatic hole in the ground dominates the landscape of Yakutia, North-East Siberia, and keep growing at an accelerated rate. The Batagaika Crater is the largest permafrost crater in the world. But what is going on there? Scientists are working hard there trying to decipher the secrets of climate. Massive permafrost thaws thousands of years ago destabilized the climate system, something that could happen again very soon.

In Northeast Siberia, there is a dramatic hole in the ground, the Batagaika crater. This huge crater is the largest of its kind: almost 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) long and 86 meters (282 feet) deep. Located roughly 10 kilometers Southeast of the town of Batagay (Yakutia), on the left bank of the Batagay River, the Batagaika crater has a characteristic shape resembling a tadpole.

The Batagaika Crater doesn’t dominate the landscape, IT IS THE LANDSCAPE. The walls of this huge crater are completely made of ice and mud. Outside the Batagaika crater, you can hear Cracks of ice in the distance while it melts off.

The enormous crater started off as just a small gully in the 1960s. Locals in the area avoid it, saying it is a “doorway to the underworld”. But for scientists, the site is of great interest. Remote sensing observations show that the boundary of the slump moves 20-30 m per year. These ice-reach sediments of perennially frozen ground are exposed to ongoing thawing.

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