Giant crater found in Siberia near 'end of world''

[littlemissmartypants]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/07/16/newser-siberia-crater/12738131/

[Fred Sanders]

1. I am no geologist, but I guess it is giant sinkhole, right at the sandy edge of a bog.

[Xipe Totec]

2. I always expected the asshole of the world would be closer to Port Arthur, Texas

At least according to Janis Joplin.

[jakeXT]

3. pingo ?

Talking to The Sydney Morning Herald, polar scientist Dr. Chris Fogwill says it's likely to be a geological phenomenon called a pingo—a block of ice that's grown into a small hill in the frozen arctic ground:

The permafrost [frozen earth] can be hundreds of metres thick, allowing for large ice features.

This is obviously a very extreme version of that, and if there's been any interaction with the gas in the area, that is a question that could only be answered by going there.

We're seeing much more activity in permafrost areas than we've seen in the historical past. A lot of this relates to this high degree of warming around these high arctic areas which are experiencing some of the highest rates of warming on earth.

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/mysterious-hole-discovered-in-siberia-1605872539

[longship]

4. Man! I don't want to go anywhere near that without a safety harness.

It looks like a roach motel... They check in (or, chuck in)... And never check out.

[Warpy]

5. You'd probably want a SCUBA setup, too

because I don't imagine there is much down that hole that is breathable.

[defacto7]

6. Here are a couple more links.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/16/331982188/a-huge-new-crater-is-found-in-siberia-and-the-theories-fly

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10971128/Scientists-baffled-by-appearance-of-giant-crater-in-Siberia.html

http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/a-mysterious-crater-in-siberia-has-scientists-seeking-answers-was-it-a-meteor-an-alien-or-global-warming/story-fnjwvztl-1226990539778

Interesting and a little unnerving.

[littlemissmartypants]

7. Very cool. Thanks! eom

[littlemissmartypants]

8. Very cool. Thanks!

I have the notion this is a perfect spot for the final republican convention. Or the hole that they crawled out of initially.

[defacto7]

9. I would watch the Rep convention myself

if they were going to be down in that thing.

[littlemissmartypants]

10. Me too.