A huge sinkhole, or possibly a crater, appeared in Siberia two years ago. But since it was in Siberia, nobody found out about it for quite a while. It ultimately took a helicopter pilot’s photos for scientists to become interested.

It seems this happened overnight in an area called Yamal, which in the native tongue means “End of the Earth.” No one knew what caused it. A meteorite? An explosion? Erosion? Aliens?

Once news of this huge, 262-foot-wide hole in the earth reached people outside of Siberia, the Internet buzzed with the theory that an alien craft had landed and created this mammoth sinkhole. Scientists first dismissed the theory of a meteorite.

Following the discovery of this Yamal Crater, two smaller sinkholes were reported by reindeer herders. The reindeer herders said a celestial body had fallen, and then they saw a flash. Another herder reported smoke, haze and then a flash. The first crater has an icy lake at the bottom. The second and third craters have snow on the bottom.

Scientists finally visited this huge, gaping hole in the earth and were amazed at what they saw. Original reports of this crater named Yamal were discounted as a hoax. But here on the edge of a mammoth hole in the earth stood scientists, about to descend into the crater.

What is known about this area of Yamal is that it was a sea 10,000 years ago that left behind vast deposits of salt. Mammoths used to roam here. Currently Reindeer inhabit Yamal. There are huge amounts of natural gas and oil here, and gas fields supply Europe with both oil and gas.

Vast methane plumes are being released from the bottom of the ocean floor in the arctic. Permafrost is melting due to a rise in recent temperatures and geothermal heat flux. Geothermal heat flux happens all the time, regardless of human activity. Armed with this information, and the fact that meteorites were eliminated as a possibility, there were no stray missiles that could have landed in Yamal, and no alien landings, the scientists, along with a medic and a professional climber entered the crater.

They measured methane concentrations that were 50,000 times the levels normally found inside craters. They believe the three sinkholes were created by huge amounts of methane that were released from melting permafrost.

Another scientist is attributing the craters to an underground mixture of water, salt and gas, which can cause a subterranean explosion. Global warming causes the permafrost to release methane gas that has been trapped within the permafrost. That gas then combines with the water and salt underground. The pressure continues to build up until an explosion occurs.

On the rim of the crater they noted severe darkened areas indicating it could have been scorched by fire. The scientists took a second look at the possibility it was a meteorite, but they quickly discarded this theory again when they found that soil around the hole was obviously thrown out of the crater.

The underground explosion theories are the most widely accepted theories of what happened at Yamal. But they continue to study the three craters that formed there. They are monitoring the amount of released methane, and taking soil and air samples.

Maybe the scientists will actually witness the creation of the next crater and be able to determine exactly what created these interesting holes in the earth.

Or, just maybe, they’ll write the definitive essay on the aliens that visited Siberia.

Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel is executive director of the Community Hiking Club and president of the Santa Clara River Watershed Conservancy. Contact Dianne through communityhikingclub.org or at zuliebear@aol.com.