TASS, June 21. Russian scientists plan for summer [2018] a monitoring of lakes, which formed inside two craters of gas emission in the Yamalo-Nenets Region. They will collect data necessary to understand how those objects develop, an expert of the Institute of the Earth’s Cryosphere at the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Artem Khomutov told TASS on Thursday.
Several craters have been found in Yamal since 2014. They all are filled with water now. The funnels developed from gas emissions. In summer 2017, scientists found two more craters: one of them is 34km from the Seyakha village and the other - 20km from the Yaruta village. Specialists warn the craters are dangerous for reindeer herders and settlements, for roads, railways and pipelines.
"Scientists led by Marina Leibman will continue studying the craters," the expert told TASS. "The work is financed by a grant from the Russian Scientific Fund."
"In summer, they will continue monitoring lakes in two craters, which are 20 and 40 kilometers south from the Bovanenkovskoye field," he continued. "This monitoring is valuable from the point of view of realizing the gas emissions’ nature and of their influence on the neighboring landscape."
According to the expert, in 2017, specialists visited one of the craters and described in full detail the landscape formed after the emission. "The results show that the gas emission there formed micro-landscapes at a distance from the crater, which is bigger by 15-20 times than the crater itself," he said.
"During the previous winter expedition to the craters, specialists took samples of the lake water and sediments to study the bacteria, which participate in methane’s geo-chemical cycle," the expert said.