The Batagay megaslump, better known as Siberia’s “gateway to the underworld,” is up to its usual tricks. New research shows that the giant geological scar has grown up to 1 million cubic meters (35 million cubic feet) each year since 2014, pumping out thousands of tons of carbon as it fractures.
The 1-kilometer-long (0.62-mile) slash in the landscape can be found in the Sakha Republic of Siberia in Russia’s eastern depths.
In the 1960s, the tadpole-shaped crack was little more than an unassuming gully, but the tear has continued to rip open at an alarming rate over the past few decades amid rising temperatures that have thawed the permafrost in the area. Due to its extremely remote location, the megaslump avoided detection for years until it was first recognized on satellite imagery in 1991.
It’s ultimately the product of warming temperatures in the region associated with climate change. Permafrost in the soil was neatly holding the land together, but warming temperatures thawed the icy cement and undermined its structure. The land loosened and gave way, causing a deluge of debris to spread downhill toward the floodplain of the Batagay River. As the land continues to slump, more frozen soil is exposed to the warmth, causing the size of the slump to grow.
In the latest study, scientists at the Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Melnikov Permafrost Institute, together with colleagues from Germany, carried out 3D geological modeling of the Batagay megaslump to better understand its past, present, and future.
They found that the slump had mobilized around 35 million cubic meters (1.23 billion cubic feet) of ground since the 1990s. Around two-thirds of the material was ground ice, while the remaining third was permafrost sediments.
It’s continuing to grow in size too. The researchers note the megaslump had a width of 790 meters (2,591 feet) in 2014, but expanded to 890 meters (2,919 feet) in 2019.
While the Batagay megaslump is grandest in size, climate change is rapidly driving the emergence of new permafrost thaw slumps in the northernmost parts of the world. One study found thousands of climate-triggered landslide slumps in a High Arctic environment over recent decades.
The situation is especially noticeable in Russia where nearly 65 percent of the ground is is comprised of permafrost. Back in August 2020, a gaping crater was blasted open after an explosive bubble of methane gas popped beneath the ground in the remote tundra of Siberia, spraying chunks of rocks and soil hundreds of meters across the Yamal Peninsula.
The study is published in the journal Geomorphology.
Source Link: The "Gateway To The Underworld" In Siberia Is Splintering Open
