Recently in Siberia, there’s the melting permafrost.
Conditions vary so much that huge holes appear out of nowhere, and, in some places, the tundra is literally bubbling up under our feet.
A recent study showed that one of the biggest craters in the region of Baterica, which the locals consider “door to the underworld” is growing so quickly that there was revealed the archaeological layers over the last 200 000 years.
Such craters as Baterica, officially called “thermokarst”. Such dermokraty appear across Siberia in recent years, but researchers believe that Bategeka, located about 660 kilometers away from the regional centre of Yakutsk, may be considered an anomaly even among these anomalous craters. Crater Batareika is the largest of its kind, its dimensions are almost 1 kilometer in length and 86 metres in depth, it is constantly growing.
The study, presented last year by Frank Gunter from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, showed that in the last decade, the crater becomes deeper every year about 20 meters, also Batareika increases in length. The crater appeared after the 1960-ies there was cut out a large section of the forest. Devoid of trees, the land became harder to warm up, permafrost thawed, and the soil failed. Major flooding in 2008 has accelerated the growth of the crater.
The emergence and growth of such dermokratov is a threat not only for local residents but for the entire planet. According to scientists, the permafrost contains as much carbon dioxide as Earth’s atmosphere. And if the craters continue to appear and grow, these greenhouse gases can be in the atmosphere, which will cause the acceleration of global climate change.
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