This frame grab made Wednesday, July 16, 2014, shows a crater, discovered recently in the Yamal Peninsula, in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia.The Associated Press
Russian scientists say they believe a 60-meter (66-yard) wide crater discovered recently in far northern Siberia could be the result of changing temperatures in the region.
Andrei Plekhanov, a senior researcher at the Scientific Research Center of the Arctic, told the AP Thursday that the crater was mostly likely the result of a "build-up of excessive pressure" underground due to rising temperatures in the region.
Plekhanov on Wednesday travelled to the crater, some 30 kilometres (18.64 miles) from the Bovanenkovo gas field in the far northern Yamal peninsula. He said 80 per cent of the crater appeared to be made up of ice and that there were no traces of an explosion, eliminating the possibility that a meteorite had struck the region.