About the results latest research Yamal funnel was discussed in Moscow, at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The discussion was initiated by the Society of Young Permafrost Scientists of Russia. At the authoritative discussion platform, the discussion was about field and remote studies of the Yamal phenomenon, which has gained worldwide fame over the past two years. I got acquainted with the opinions of experts Stanislav Tropillo.
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Until recently, the Yamal funnels were considered one of the most mysterious natural phenomena, the inexplicable “gates of hell.” Research over the past three years, conducted by scientists around the world, has left virtually no holes in the nature and cause this phenomenon. Tyumen scientists recently came to the conclusion that the underground gas explosions that these craters form can be predicted and controlled.
A funnel, or rather a crater 35 meters deep and about 40 meters in diameter, was discovered in Yamal in 2014 in the area of the Bovanenkovskoye field, near the floodplain of the Morda-Yakha River. Yamalo-Nenets District- territory with large deposits natural gas. Therefore, scientists did not long doubt the causes of the phenomenon - the release of permafrost rocks under the pressure of gas accumulated in the upper horizons, which burst out after microcracks appeared in the multi-meter icy solid under the influence of warming in the polar latitudes.
An aerial helicopter survey of the area subsequently discovered several craters, the number of which now varies, but does not reach ten. The initial assumptions of scientists that in two years the funnel will turn into one of the tundra lakes, of which there are many in Yamal, were soon confirmed. The discovered giant funnel gradually began to fill with water.
“These hills, reaching up to two kilometers in diameter and many tens of meters in height, look very exotic against the backdrop of the tundra flat terrain. Gradually these objects are under the influence high temperatures collapse and form craters. However, a year ago, in connection with the formation of the Yamal crater, we learned that they can also explode,” explained Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vasily Bogoyavlensky.
In 2015 in Yamalo-Nenets District Eight expeditions worked to study a dozen tundra hillocks-bulgunnyakhs. Luckily for the population of Yamal, they were all found far from settlements. But next to gas fields. According to aerospace survey data in 2015-2016, scientists identified more than 200 lakes with numerous craters and their parapets in bottom sediments. During aerospace observations on a number of lakes, signs of degassing were revealed, manifested in local thawed patches on the ice cover and water turbidity. When deciphering aerospace observation data in the tundra of Yamal and Gydan, scientists identified several thousand Bulgunnyakhs.
“We discovered several heaving mounds, one of which is simply propping up the gas pipeline. I hope that Gazprom conducts its own research. Last year we already informed about this and provided the coordinates of one of these facilities to the administration of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. We are also ready to join in the study of the most dangerous objects,” Vasily Bogoyavlensky said then.
Moreover, scientists have discovered gas explosions in the lakes of Yamal. Such explosions are accompanied by a slight earthquake, and no one is monitoring this, researchers sounded the alarm. Three seismic stations appeared in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug only in April 2017 in the Sabetta area, at the Bovanenkovskoye and Kharasaveyskoye fields.
And on June 28, 2017, a flash of fire was noticed, after which smoke appeared, which quickly disappeared - a new crater 50 meters deep was formed.
“In the crater in the ejection zone, according to the echo sounder we used, the depth was about 20 meters; direct measurements using a weight and rope showed that the depth in one narrow place exceeded 50 meters,” Vasily Bogoyavlensky said.
Tyumen scientists are now considering ways to tame the “gates of hell.” They believe that explosions of gas heaving mounds in Yamal and the formation of huge craters can be predicted and controlled. This is evidenced by studies on the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the correspondent was told IA REGNUM in the press service of Tyumen Industrial University.
The tubercle, according to scientists, “matures” for about three years. The “mature” bulgunnyah, two meters high, is hard to miss . The risk of new explosions, according to researchers, exists only at the Kharasaveyskoye and Kruzenshternskoye fields of the Bovanenkovo group, as well as in the east along the same latitude. Currently, the ice and soil of the heaving mounds are being studied.
“There is a peculiarity: all the explosion craters are localized in places where there is increased snow accumulation, standing or flowing water. As a rule, no one settles or builds on such areas. In fact, there is a danger only for linear objects: crossings of rivers, ravines,” explains Associate Professor of the Department of Cryology of the Earth TIU Anatoly Gubarkov.
A group of scientists plans to spend the next two years on further research into the Yamal sinkholes. Now they will try to “close” the “gates of hell”.
The crater with a diameter of 60 meters, discovered in the area of the Bonavenkovskoye oil and gas condensate field in Yamal in June 2014, aroused the admiration of the whole world. In scientific circles it was called a funnel gas release. For 2014 natural phenomenon examined three expeditions organized by the Center for Arctic Development.
The fourth one recently returned from Yamal. Her goal was to explore how the last year crater near the floodplain of the Morda-Yakha River, as well as study tundra lakes that have the same round shape. Experts are convinced that they appeared thanks to similar processes. Scientists shared their discoveries with Russian Planet.
Methane hydrate gun shot
Scientists were helped to unravel the mystery of the appearance of the Yamal funnel by the so-called heaving mounds, which often appear in the Arctic tundra.
In areas where it is common permafrost, there is such a phenomenon as heaving mounds, or pingos, as they are commonly called in world geological science, explains Valery Noskov, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, to the RP correspondent. - From the outside they look like hills of a regular round shape. Their height can reach 80 meters, and their diameter can be several kilometers. Previously, it was generally accepted that heaving mounds are formed exclusively as a result of many years of freezing of clayey soils saturated with water. However, it now becomes clear that they can also appear when reverse process- thawing of paleo-permafrost caused by global warming. The Arctic, as a hypersensitive ecosystem, is the first to respond to climate change, and the heaving mounds - direct to that certificate.
When the upper permafrost horizons begin to thaw under the influence of high temperatures, the methane contained in them is released. Photo: government.yanao.rf
In the summer of 2012–2013, when it was formed Yamal funnel, the air temperature in the area where it appeared was 5 degrees higher than normal, and over the past 20 years, due to systematic warming, the permafrost soils lying in this area at a depth of 20 m have warmed up by about 2 degrees.
When the upper layers of permafrost begin to thaw under the influence of high temperatures, the methane gas contained in them is released. It is found in permafrost soils in the form of relict gas hydrates.
Gas hydrates and, in particular, methane hydrates are crystalline compounds formed from water and gas, says Valery Noskov. - For the first time, the hypothesis about the presence of relict gas hydrates in the permafrost zone was put forward by Soviet scientists in the 40s of the last century, and they were first discovered in the 1960s. By latest estimates, V currently V Arctic zone At least 1.4 thousand gigatons of gas are locked in the permafrost, including under water, in the form of methane and its hydrates. About 5–10% of this amount comes to the surface as a result of thawing of permafrost soils, as gas hydrates become unstable as temperatures rise.
There is even an apocalyptic theory about the so-called methane hydrate gun: many researchers fear that rising water temperatures in the World Ocean and the rivers flowing into it will trigger an irreversible process of methane release from underwater and underground deposits of gas hydrates. Once in the atmosphere, methane, which is more powerful greenhouse gas, than carbon dioxide, will cause further warming. As a result, even more methane will be released, and a disaster will occur.
Some scientists believe that a similar process caused Permian extinction, when 250 million years ago 96% of earth's organisms died.
Now there is a constant collapse of the edges of the funnel, thawed clay is sliding inside, it is dangerous to go down. Photo: government.yanao.rf
Such a pessimistic scenario is still unlikely: most gas hydrates are concentrated too deep to react sharply to warming, Noskov continues. “It will take millennia for them to warm up and release the methane they contain. Nevertheless, an expedition of Russian, American and Swedish scientists, which, under the leadership of Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov, explored permafrost on the Arctic shelf of Siberia two years ago, came to the conclusion that the volume of methane emissions into the atmosphere in this zone has doubled compared to the calculated ones. Due to ruptures in the permafrost that formed on seabed, millions of tons of methane have already been released, causing its concentration to increase 100-fold in some Arctic regions. At any moment, up to 50 gigatons of hydrates could be released, increasing the methane content in the atmosphere by 12 times and leading to critical levels greenhouse effect. In the United States, back in 2008, the potential release of methane hydrates in the Arctic was included among four global climate threats.
Crater explosions
Methane released from gas hydrates as a result of rising temperatures begins to rise to the surface of the earth in fault zones, which can be located both underwater and on land. It prevents him from going outside permafrost. Under the pressure of compressed gas, the soil literally swells. Formed giant bubble, looking fantastic against the backdrop of the flat tundra landscape. The gas puts pressure on the permafrost, also heating it from below: the temperature of methane is about +30 °C, and the temperature of permafrost is about minus 9–10 °C. As it thaws, the top layer of permafrost weakens and at some point can no longer withstand pressure from below. Gas escapes. An explosion occurs. The soil “plug” flies out like from a bottle of champagne.
In this case, the gas pressure can be relatively small, explains the curator of the 4th expedition to the gas emission funnel, deputy director for scientific work Institute of Oil and Gas Problems, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor technical sciences Vasily Bogoyavlensky. - Twelve-odd atmospheres are enough for such a mound to explode. At lower pressure, the heaving mounds are gradually destroyed under the influence of high temperature, and craters also form in their place, but this happens without an explosion. On the territory of Yamal there are at least four objects associated with underground gas emissions. During last expedition we managed to visit two of them.
The size of the Yamal crater is constantly increasing: now its depth is about 50 m. Photo: government.yanao.rf
Thawing of paleo-permafrost under the influence of global warming will inevitably lead to the appearance of new craters similar to the Yamal one, since there are many gas-containing rocks in the Arctic region. Moreover, due to rising temperatures, they may occur more often.
The only thing scientists can do is predict where and when they will appear in order to evacuate people in time. After all, permafrost is distributed over more than 60% of the territory of Russia. These are built on it big cities, like Yakutsk, Vorkuta and Norilsk.
An environmental disaster will occur if craters appear under a mine or overpass. Thus, the nearest oil pipeline is located only four kilometers from the Yamal funnel, and the oil and gas field is 28 kilometers away.
The expedition participants noted that the size of the Yamal crater is constantly increasing. Today its depth is about 50 m, that is, a 25-story building can easily fit into it. Part of the volume of the giant crater was filled with water - at least 10 m deep. Researchers are convinced that over time, the geological new formation near the Bovanenkovskoye field will turn into exactly the same tundra lake as many others located on the territory of Yamal.
The participants of the fourth expedition did not have the opportunity to go down into the crater and examine it from the inside.
Thawing of paleo-permafrost under the influence of global warming will inevitably lead to the appearance of new craters. Photo: government.yanao.rf
Now there is a constant collapse of the edges of the funnel, thawed clay is sliding inside, it’s dangerous to go down,” the director explained to the RP correspondent Russian Center development of the Arctic Vladimir Pushkarev. “Therefore, we were able to get to the bottom of the crater and take samples of soil and ice for chemical and isotopic analysis only during the third expedition (in November 2014), when the walls of the crater froze.
Samples taken during the very first expedition, which took place in July last year, showed high content methane in the crater. The methane concentration at the bottom of the funnel was about 9.6%, while usually it does not exceed 0.000179%. This serves as an additional argument in favor of the correctness of the thermogas theory of the origin of the Yamal crater.
The solution to the Bermuda Triangle
Four expeditions made it possible to exclude all other versions of the origin of the Yamal funnel. Over the course of the year, dozens of theories about the appearance of the crater have emerged. A giant hole in the tundra was called the gate to hell, foreshadowing the end of the world, a hole of a huge animal unknown to science, a trace of the crash of an alien ship and the result of a test nuclear bomb. More plausible versions have also been put forward, such as a meteorite fall.
If the Yamal crater was formed from a meteorite fall, then an increased background radiation, but there is nothing like it,” says Valery Noskov. - In addition, there are no signs of charring or other effects of exposure to high temperatures. No pieces of meteorite were found either. The latter could be explained by the fact that the meteorite consisted entirely of ice, and therefore its fragments could not be found. This version is supported by the funnel-shaped shape of the crater, which could be the result of the rotation of a meteorite in the soil, as well as the darkened edges of the hole. However, it is impossible not to notice the fall of such a large celestial body, especially since only 30 km from the place of the supposed fall there is a large deposit. Meteorite collision with earth's surface would cause a shaking of the soil, which would inevitably be recorded.
An additional argument in favor of the meteorite theory of the appearance of the Yamal crater could be the circumstances of the appearance of another similar crater of a smaller size. It was discovered by reindeer herders in the Tazovsky district of Yamal, 90 km from the village of Antipayuta in September 2013. They claimed that his appearance was preceded by a bright flash, and then followed by an explosion. Some noted that before this they saw a bright trail in the sky from a falling celestial body.
It is unlikely that at almost the same time, two meteorites of the same composition fell on almost the same territory, causing the appearance of craters of the same structure, says Valery Noskov. - And the presence of a flash and explosion is very easy to explain, since when methane is mixed with air in certain proportions, an explosive mixture is formed. Gas released from gas hydrates could cause a strong explosion. As for the trace of a meteorite in the sky, people tend to wishful thinking. The prosaic explanation of the origin of the Yamal funnel is not to the taste of many.
To console science fiction lovers and conspiracy theorists, the scientist said that the thermal gas origin of the Yamal funnel directly connects it with the famous Bermuda Triangle. In 1984, Canadian chemist Donald Davidson proposed an interesting version of the explanation for this phenomenon. He said that in this part of the World Ocean there are gas hydrates containing methane. In 1990, research, during which several deep-sea wells were drilled, confirmed that he was right. When gas is released from hydrates and penetrates the layer of soil holding it back, it rises to the surface. As it rises, the water pressure drops and the small gas bubbles increase in size. When they reach the surface of the water, it turns into boiling foam. A ship that finds itself in a gas cloud can no longer stay on the surface of the water, since its density drops sharply, and goes to the bottom. Aircraft crews caught in a methane cloud die from suffocation. And the slightest spark can be enough for explosive methane to explode and burn a ship or plane in a matter of seconds. The crews do not even have time to send a distress signal. Moreover, when rescuers arrive in this area, they cannot find any traces. And all this happens due to the presence at the bottom of exactly the same gas hydrates as in the formation zone of the Yamal crater.
VIDEO: a sinkhole in Yamal grows, turning into a lake
Giant funnel in Yamal, discovered last year near the Bovanenkovo gas field, continues to increase in size. At the same time, it fills with water and becomes a lake.
A giant sinkhole in the area of the Bovanenkovskoye field in Yamal, discovered last summer, began to turn into a lake, as scientists predicted.
During the next expedition, experts found that over the past winter and spring the funnel was filled with water by about ten meters, and this process continues, according to the website of the government of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
Previously, scientists expressed the opinion that in a couple of years this funnel will turn into one of the tundra lakes, of which there are many in Yamal and which, as scientists assume, have a similar origin. At the same time, the nature of the appearance of the craters themselves is not reliably clear.
After the current expedition, curator of research works, deputy director for scientific work of the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems, corresponding member Russian Academy Scientist Vasily Bogoyavlensky hypothesized that the funnel is of thermogas origin, like most round-shaped tundra lakes on the peninsula.
Such processes occur in areas where paleo-permafrost exists and underground ice, and due to global warming, heaving mounds are forming in these territories, the academician explained.
“These hills, reaching up to two kilometers in diameter and many tens of meters in height, look very exotic against the backdrop of the tundra flat terrain. Gradually, these objects, under the influence of high temperatures, collapse and form craters. However, a year ago, due to the formation of the Yamal crater, we We learned that they can also explode,” the government portal quotes him as saying.
Scientists have also found that the crater is growing: its depth is now about 50 meters, and the base of the crater is falling apart right before our eyes, the Yamal Region TV company reports.
Two-thirds of the funnel space is occupied by melted and rainwater, scientists take tests, and special sensors are lowered to the bottom of the funnel. The results show that the object is unpredictable, and going deep into the crater is dangerous, the report says.
The television company also published on the Internet a video it shot, which depicts the same swelling mounds, future craters that Bogoyavlensky spoke about.
A giant crater in the area of the Bovanenkovskoye field in Yamal grows and becomes a lake
The public and regional authorities learned about the “Bovanenkovo” funnel on July 10, 2014, when a recording from a helicopter appeared on YouTube, in which one could see a huge basin formed 30 kilometers from the Bovanenkovo oil and gas condensate field near the floodplain of the Mordy-Yakha River.
Governor of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Dmitry Kobylkin ordered to carry out Scientific research this phenomenon. Last year, three expeditions were organized to the crater. It turned out that the diameter of the crater along the inner edge is approximately 40 meters, along the outer edge - 60 meters.
At primary research scientists from the Arctic Research Center and the Earth Cryosphere Institute considered that the funnel has natural origin and is not the result of any man-made impact, such as an explosion or meteorite fall, local authorities reported.
During expeditions in July and August last year, constant collapses of the internal walls of the crater prevented full research and sampling. Only in November, when the ground was thoroughly frozen, were scientists able to descend into it for the first time and examine inner part funnels and take samples of soil and ice for chemical and isotope analyses.
In addition to the descent, a special probe carried out ground penetrating radar of the crater to a depth of 200 meters in order to obtain its visual structure and create a 3D model, and in the future to help predict the appearance of this natural phenomenon.
None hazardous radiation at the site of the funnel scientific group, did not reveal. Scientists came to the conclusion that the funnel is the result of “a certain natural phenomenon, which is impossible to define without detailed research.” According to one version, the giant crater could have been formed as a result of pneumatic pop caused by the decomposition of gas hydrates.
“This is a purely mechanical release, which most likely occurred due to an increase in pressure during freezing and a change in the volume of a certain cavity in which there were reserves of swamp gas,” said a research participant, chief researcher at the Earth Cryosphere Institute Siberian branch RAS Marina Leibman.
Meanwhile, the study participant, head of the geological sector comprehensive research Gazprom VNIIGAZ LLC Anton Sinitsky compared the Yamal sinkhole with the Bermuda tangle. According to him, between them there is connecting link- gas hydrates, which are methane atoms in a stable state in a water molecule and are in a frozen state, wrote Komsomolskaya Pravda.
“Outwardly, it looks like a piece of ice,” Sinitsky told reporters after the November expedition. “At the bottom of the world’s oceans, such gas hydrates lie in the form of layers and flakes. But no one knows how to extract them. One of the working versions of Bermuda Triangle The point is that these gas hydrates lie at the bottom in its area. Something happens and their peace is disturbed. As a result, methane begins to be actively released, the water begins to boil, and its density decreases. Accordingly, the ship simply cannot stay afloat any longer."
The Yamal sinkhole caused a great stir in information space , and not only in Russia. It was even included in the official trailer for the film "X-Men: Apocalypse": at the 11th second of the video the title “Yamal, Siberia” appears, and the voice-over says that scientists never came to unanimous opinion about the nature of funnels.
Meanwhile, in July 2014 in Tazovsky Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Another similar crater was discovered, but smaller in size - its diameter is approximately 15 meters. She was found by reindeer herders 90 km from the village of Antipayuta and reported to the authorities. At the same time, reindeer herders claim that in September 2013, a certain heavenly body, after which a flash occurred.
On July 17, in Salekhard, participants in the first study of a deep basin on the Yamal Peninsula gave a press conference.
Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Chief Researcher at the Institute of the Earth's Cryosphere of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Marina Leibman, Senior Researcher at the State Institution of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug " Science Center Arctic Research” Andrei Plekhanov, who went to the site of the crater formation on behalf of the Governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Dmitry Kobylkin, told reporters in detail about what they saw, as well as about the work done.
Marina Leibman put forward an assumption about what could happen to the funnel in the future. “Now its walls are constantly thawing. The water accumulates, and I assume that it freezes below. If this flow of water increases, for example, there will be a very hot continuation of July, then it will not have time to freeze, and a lake will begin to form,” said the chief researcher at the Institute of the Earth’s Cryosphere of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
At the very beginning of the field study, they checked the radiation level and negative substances. According to the instruments, there are no dangerous radiations at the site of the funnel.
Having examined the territory, Andrei Plekhanov said: “The diameter of the crater along the inner edge is approximately 40 meters, along the outer edge - 60. Fragments of the ejection that occurred are observed at a distance of 120 meters. And in order to accurately determine the depth, you need specialists with serious climbing equipment. Coming close is dangerous for life, as the edges of the resulting embankment are constantly collapsing.”
Scientists have come to the conclusion that the funnel is the result of a certain natural phenomenon, which is now impossible to define without detailed research. talk about something technogenic impact there is no reason. “There is no ground influence here. A thorough examination showed that there were no traces of the presence of a person with the equipment. Assumptions about a hot meteorite are also groundless; then there should be traces of charring. At this place there was a release of some material from the bowels of the earth. I don't think it was accompanied by an explosion, because it involves exposure to high temperatures. I repeat - there are no signs of charring or burning. This is a purely mechanical release, which most likely occurred due to an increase in pressure during freezing and a change in the volume of a certain cavity in which there were reserves of swamp gas. It can be seen that there was water all around, there are traces of streams,” noted Marina Leibman, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Chief Researcher at the Institute of the Earth’s Cryosphere of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Under the thin top layer The land of the peninsula is permafrost. The walls of the ice pit, as soon as the sun comes out and the ambient temperature becomes above zero (yesterday it was +2ºC on the peninsula), begin to melt. However, according to researchers, strong impact and no deformation of the funnel walls is expected.
It should be noted that scientists measured the depth of the permafrost layer in the vicinity of the eruption, which in the future may be used to determine the start date this process. Let's add, maximum depth thawing was at around 73 centimeters. “Many scientists involved in Quaternary geology would like to study the vertical wall of the crater. I note that in scientific literature there is a theory that round lakes in Yamal are formed due to the release of swamp gas, but deep lakes may simply be a consequence of the thermokarst process. Observing what is happening today, I see that the theory may well have deep meaning“, comments Marina Leibman.
According to her, in the future it is quite possible to diagnose the appearance of such pits. One of the ways is images from space, which, in turn, can reveal the history of the current pit. By the way, in the future the funnel may well transform into an ordinary lake - from hundreds of thousands of other lakes in Yamal.
In July, the Tyumen-Cosmopoisk group reported the discovery of the crater on the VKontakte social network and posted a video provided and filmed by the helicopter pilot:
And the video posted on YouTube by Sergei Kokhanov in May 2014 went virtually unnoticed:
In fact, the existence of this failure became known last fall. A minute-long video shot on a mobile phone by reindeer herders reached local historian Lyudmila Lipatova. The nomads claimed that the hole appeared right then - it wasn’t there yet in the spring. The approximate location of the facility is 30 kilometers from the Bovanenkovskoye field. Lyudmila Fedorovna showed that video to many, but special interest she didn't call.
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