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Looks
different from the others. My guess would be a sinkhole as opposed to
a blowhole
---Paul Beckwith
---Paul Beckwith
New giant crater appears in Siberia
Subsidence
from old coal mine a possible cause of latest
mystery hole
20
April 2015
.
There
has been no comment from the Emergencies Ministry or the regional
government on the cause of the hole. Picture:Good Novostei
The
latest crater to appear in Siberia measures around 20 metres in
diameter and around 25-to-30 metres in depth. Its sudden appearance
in recent days close to Novokuznetsk region is around 3,500
kilometres from other craters found in Arctic Russia in recent
months.
Initial
theories suggest mining subsidence caused the collapse, but locals
remain concerned about methane gas in the disused shafts. They have
been told to avoid fires amid concern over methane leaks.
The
hole was spotted by Rinat Sharifullin, whose house is 100 metres
away. He immediately called to the Emergency Ministry. The gaping
crevice was fenced and specialists have now filled it using soil from
an adjacent hill.
Despite
this, the crater is causing concern among locals.
Rinat's
wife Natalia said: 'We need to move from here. Under our garden are
mines, too, and the site nearby was once the entrance to a mine. In
the 1990s it was closed and the ground was filled in.'
There
has been no comment from the Emergencies Ministry or the regional
government on the cause of the hole.
Apparently,
another smaller hole is nearby which was filled with water.
Subsidence
from old coal mine a possible cause of latest mystery
hole. Pictures: Good Novostei
Other
holes have received worldwide attention after appearing
in the Yamal region of northern Siberia,
with another in a remote location in Krasnoyarsk region, near the
Taimyr peninsula.
In
February, The Siberian Times revealed the existence of four new
mysterious 'giant craters', and many smaller ones, in these areas,
sparking fears over a looming natural disaster in the Arctic. Their
cause is seen as methane released from melting permafrost but this is
not yet confirmed by scientists.
Observation
from space revealed the dramatic mushrooming of the holes, believed
to be caused by methane gas eruptions in melting permafrost due to
climate change, scientists revealed today. A leading Russian expert
sounded an alert over safety because one new Siberian crater,
surrounded by at least 20 'baby holes', is just six miles from a
major gas production plant.
He
predicts up to 30 more are waiting to be discovered. Scientsts are
still baffled by the exact processes causing the craters and
respected Moscow expert Professor Vasily Bogoyavlensky today
called for 'urgent' investigation of the new phenomenon amid safety feыrs.
Wildfires
in Siberia
Farmers
in the steppe of
southern Siberia have an old tradition of burning dried grass in the
spring to fertilize the soil for the coming year. In April 2015,
unusually warm temperatures and strong winds turned the tradition
into a nightmare.
Several fires escaped the control of their handlers
and spread rapidly across the dry landscape. According to media
reports, escaped fires had devastated several villages, caused the
deaths of about two dozen people, and left thousands of people
homeless.
Several smoky fires burned in Zabaikalsky
Territory on
April 14, 2015, when the Moderate
Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
on NASA’s Terra satellite
acquired this image. The fires are outlined in red. Several dark burn
scars are visible through the smoke.
Smoke
from Siberian fires causes dramatic sunsets in North America
19
April, 2015
US
National Weather Service claims smoke haze from deadly inferno has
crossed the Pacific.
'The
scenes have almost felt like they're out of Hollywood imagination -
brilliant red sunrises and sunsets the last couple of days around
Western Washington,' reported KomoNews
The
wind whipped blazes killed 30 people in Siberia after farmers burned
dried grass but the fires got out of control. The damage was
especially acute in Khakassia republic where 1,328 homes were
destroyed or badly damaged, leaving 4.694 people without shelter, but
the area around the city of Chita was also badly hit.
As
well as killing 30, two people were reported missing.
Sunsets
in Washington state were reported to be orange tinted or pink or red
in colour. Experts say the cause is the Siberian fires, a repeat of
stunning sunsets seen in 2012. 'The scenes have almost felt like
they're out of Hollywood imagination - brilliant red sunrises and
sunsets the last couple of days around Western Washington,'
reported KomoNews.
'Why
so red? It's a byproduct of the massive wildfires that recently
burned a large area in Siberia. 'The atmospheric winds are aligned
this week to carry the smoke across the Pacific Ocean and into the
Pacific Northwest'.
US National Weather Service claims smoke haze from deadly inferno has crossed the Pacific. Pictures: KomoNews
In
Russia, the fires were blamed on human factors with President
Vladimir Putin's envoy to Siberia even claiming the could have been a
political motive.
Nikolai
Rogozhkin said in Chita: 'Let's sketch out the following situation:
some group of people - or the opposition, as they are now called -
got together. They underwent instruction and carried out acts of
sabotage by setting fires in various spots.'
He
inspected the damage from a helicopter and saw fires in 'places where
a normal person cannot go, even one who is well-prepared.
'A
specially trained person would be needed for this, and it would take
at least 24 hours, he said.
The
Kremlin appeared to case doubt on this clim.
Its
information was that 'the fire was caused by grass burning and this
is a very dangerous and destructive practice that, as the events have
shown, may lead to catastrophic consequences,' said spokesman Dmitry
Peskov. 'The weather conditions got together in a catastrophic way -
strong winds, dryness and low temperature... At the same time, the
ice on the rivers has not melted'.
'The winds are aligned this week to carry the smoke across the Pacific Ocean and into the Pacific Northwest'. Picture: KomoNews
The
Russian Defence Ministry sent 28 Kamaz trucks to help eliminate the
consequences of fires in Khakassia, it was reported on Sunday.
Vladimir
Putin demanded that destroyed houses should be restored by 1 September.
'A
convoy of vehicles loaded with ferroconcrete units and other
construction materials completed its 800 km march from the Kemerovo
Region to Abakan,' said one official.
Three
aircraft also delivered 96 tons of humanitarian aid.
'Overall,
more than 100 army tents, 100 furnaces for warming, 20,000 meals
ready to eat, sleeping bags, field baths, mobile power plants and
other necessary stuff were delivered for residents of the republic's
affected regions', said a statement.
This
year's outbreaks had swept across more than 205,000 hectares of
forest.
A
16-year-old teenager was detained on suspicion of starting a fire
near a village some 120 kilometres southwest of Chita, it was
reported.
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