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The Siberian Batagay crater in Russia dubbed the “gate to the underworld”, is growing at an alarmingly rapid pace.
Knewz.com has learned the tadpole-shaped sinking depression, known as a mega slump in scientific circles, is the largest of its kind and spans an area of 200 acres.
These chasms occur on high ground and are usually the result of melting subterranean ice or permafrost.
Russian Glaciologist, Alexander Kizyakov, from Moscow's Lomonosov State University, spoke to Atlas Obscura about the natural anomaly saying, “in recent years, the retreat rate of the headwalls [highest cliff faces] has varied from [16 to 49 feet] per year.”
“The volume of the bowl-shaped retrogressive thaw slump (RTS) increases by approximately 1 million cubic meters per year.”
This expansion, however, will not go on forever.
“Only expansion along the margins and upslope (where the highest retreat rate is said to be occurring) is expected,” Kizyakov continued to say.
“This lateral expansion is also limited by the proximity of bedrock, the top of which apparently rises to the saddle between the nearest mountains about [600 yards] uphill of the mega slump.”
Be this as it may, its effect on the surroundings is expected to be significant.
Nikita Tananaev, head of the Melnikov Permafrost Institute in Yakutsk, contributed to the study and was quoted saying:
“There is enough potential to expand the Batagay mega slump over the adjacent valley which will most probably be absorbed in the next decade or two.”
The prospects of such a reality would spell a negative prognosis for the surrounding environment–especially the Batagay River that the tadpole-shaped chasm drains into.
“This will lead to significant alterations to the riverine habitat, and the effect of sediment escaping the slump is even seen in the Yana River, the major river in the vicinity,” Tananaev explained.
Thus far, the expanding boundaries of the mega slump are already causing the river’s banks to erode.
Additionally, the continuously melting permafrost is expected to release more gasses and contribute to climate change, which, as Atlas Obscura observed, is responsible for the crater in the first place.
In Kizyakov’s paper published by the journal, Geomorphology (via Science Direct), the scientist notes that the mega slump releases between 4,000 and 5,000 tons of methane and carbon gas per year.
“As we observe the current climate over the Verkhoyansk Range, in the vicinity of the Batagay mega slump, there is no surprise that the feature is growing this fast,” Tananaev observed.
One of the reasons for the latter is that the average temperatures in the area are in a state of continuous increase.
“Higher retreat rates are expected to continue since we expect some more years with extremely high air temperature in this region to occur,” Tananaev said.
Kizyakov’s paper notes that the feature was first noted by a satellite in 1991 but existed in the 1970s already
While the ramifications associated with the crater may be alarming, Kizyakov’s paper notes:
“[The Batagay mega slump] offers excellent conditions to study rates and mechanisms of rapid permafrost degradations and to calculate the stock and release of, e.g., organic matter,” per, Science Direct.