Huge ‘doorway to the underworld’ in Siberia just won’t stop growing

Locals in Siberia fear the huge crater due the strange ‘boom’ sounds it emits – and describe it as a gateway to the underworld.

But the Batagaika Crater is not going away – in fact, it’s getting bigger at a rate of roughly 60 feet a year.

The so-called ‘megaslump’ is now 0.6 miles long and 282ft deep, according to a new BBC report – and scientists are studying it avidly as it could offer insights into climate change.

The BBC says that the trigger that led to the crater was rapid deforestation in the 60s – which meant that the ground was no longer shaded in the summer months.

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The lack of trees also meant that the ground was no longer cooled by ‘transpiration’ from the trees – a sort of ‘cold sweat’.

‘This combination of less shading and less vapid transpiration led to warming of the ground surface,’ says Julian Murton of the University of Sussex.

This caused the permafrost in the ground to thaw out – and the crater to emerge.

Layers of soil going back 200,000 years have been exposed by the collapse – and scientists such as Murton hope that studying the crater may offer insight into climate change.