Warmer Ground Blows 'Rather Spooky' Crater in Gas-Rich Russian North

Russian scientists said Thursday July 17, 2014 that they believe a 60-meter wide crater, discovered recently in far northern Siberia, could be the result of changing temperatures in the region. Andrei Plekhanov, a senior researcher at the Scientific Research Center of the Arctic, traveled to the crater. Plekhanov said 80 percent of the crater appeared to be made up of ice and that there were no traces of an explosion, eliminating the possibility that a meteorite had struck the region. Photgrapher: Associated Press Television/AP Photo

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By Eric Roston

August 4, 2014 at 6:12 PM UTC

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A peculiar 100-foot crater opened up in a gas-producing region of northern Russia last month, and scientists are coming to initial conclusions about what caused it: Methane gas escaping from melting permafrost, possibly blowing through the ground in an explosion, according to reports.

Scientists' early assessment is just that, preliminary, but not without data behind it. The bottom of the crater tested for methane levels up to 9.6 percent of the air content, which is about 54,000 times normal levels.