Batagaika megaslump
Batagaika Megaslump is a thermokarst depression one kilometer long and about 100 meters deep in the northeast Siberian taiga , in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in Russia . It is located 10 km southeast of Batagai and 5 km northeast of the settlement Esse-Chaija , about 660 km north-northeast of the republic capital Yakutsk . The structure is named after the nearby Batagaika , a right tributary of the Jana . Usually floods lead to further subsidence.
The deepening began to emerge in the 1960s after the forest was cleared during road construction work near Batagai and the shielding effect against direct sunlight was lost. This effect superimposed the already existing process of dissolving the permafrost soils through global warming.
In 2018, the completely preserved ice mummy of a foal of the extinct wild horse species Equus caballus lenensis was found in the Batagaika Megaslump . Scientists from the University of Yakutsk estimated their age at 30,000 to 40,000 years.
Web links
- 200,000 year old soil found at mysterious crater, a 'gate to the subterranean world'. In: The Siberian Times. May 18, 2016(English).
- Melissa Hogenboom: In Siberia there is a huge crater and it is getting bigger. In: BBC . February 24, 2017 (background report on the growing crater).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Trevor Nace: Siberia's 'Doorway To The Underworld' Is Rapidly Growing In Size. Accessed August 9, 2020 (English).
- ↑ Siberia: A perfectly preserved foal from the Ice Age discovered. In: Süddeutsche.de . August 27, 2018, accessed March 13, 2019 .
Coordinates: 67 ° 34 ′ 48 ″ N , 134 ° 46 ′ 17 ″ E
