(July 17, 2014) – What the heck is that?!
That’s the question many people are asking after video of a huge hole showed up on YouTube.
The video was taken during a helicopter flyover of Russia’s remote Yamal peninsula. The giant crater has scientists baffled and others wondering if it’s a hoax. It’s estimated to be 260 feet in diameter.
The kicker? The ominous abyss appeared at a place known as “the end of the world.”
A Russian Emergencies Ministry official told the Siberian Times that the crater isn’t from a meteorite.
According to the newspaper, researcher Anna Kurchatova believes water, salt and gas mixed together and ignited an underground explosion. She said the release of the gas set off a reaction similar to the popping of a champagne cork, and attributed the phenomenon to global warming.
A team of experts will go to the site to investigate and take samples.
