Underground methane blasts are behind Siberia’s puzzling exploding craters, according to new research.
If you need one more reason to worry about warming global temperatures, you can add the ground spontaneously blowing up to the list.Those must have been some blasts, as these are not mere potholes. Some of the craters measure as deep as 165 feet . High levels of methane were detected in the regions of the craters, leading scientists to believe the combustible gas—large amounts of which are trapped beneath the Siberian permafrost—was being released as the area’s average temperature rose.
As Morgado and her colleagues began examining the composition of the ground in and around the craters, they realized the explosion wasn’t the result of chemical reactions, and must have had a physical source. During the last ice age, sea waters regressed as glaciers formed. The salt left behind resulted in cryopegs, a geologic layer that doesn’t freeze due to the high levels of salt left behind. In the Yamal Peninsula, the cryopegs are about 3 feet thick, and can be as deep as 165 feet underground. Even deeper underground, below the cryopegs, lies another layer filled with crystalized methane.
For thousands of years, the balance between these layers was maintained, but warmer temperatures have disrupted the cycle. Since the 1980s, water in the topsoil has become more melty, leading it to trickle deeper and deeper into the layers below. Eventually, it began to reach the cryopegs.
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