--- title: Giant Hole in the Earth Appears in Yamal Peninsula of Siberia description: Helicopters spotted this mysterious hole in northern Russia on Tuesday and scientists are on their way to investigate the scene canonical: https://time.com/2992819/hole-siberia-yamal-peninsula/ author: Hannah Goldberg article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-16T18:01:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:11:45.105Z og:title: Giant Hole in the Earth Appears in Siberia og:description: Helicopters spotted this mysterious hole in northern Russia on Tuesday—Scientists are on their way to say to investigate the scene og:url: https://time.com/2992819/hole-siberia-yamal-peninsula/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64ec5ddd0fe80beb/69869bf53bc99992f81a48cd/siberia-hole.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Siberia Giant Hole og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Giant Hole in the Earth Appears in Siberia twitter:description: Helicopters spotted this mysterious hole in northern Russia on Tuesday—Scientists are on their way to say to investigate the scene twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64ec5ddd0fe80beb/69869bf53bc99992f81a48cd/siberia-hole.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Eerie Hole Opened Up at the 'End of the World' by [Hannah Goldberg](https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Jul 16, 2014 6:01 PM UTC  by [Hannah Goldberg](https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Jul 16, 2014 6:01 PM UTC Helicopters spotted this mysterious hole in northern Russia on Tuesday and scientists are on their way to investigate the scene, reports the [Siberian _Times_](http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/large-crater-appears-at-the-end-of-the-world/). The hole—estimated to be over 250ft wide—is located in the Yamal peninsula, a region affectionately meaning the “end of the world.” One scientist speculates that global warming in conjunction with natural gas lines may have caused the yawning cavity in the earth. Anna Kurchatova from Siberia’s Sub-Arctic Scientific Research Centre believes the crater was a result of an explosion when a mixture of water, salt and natural gas exploded underground. Global warming, she claims, has caused the permafrost in Siberia to melt at an accelerated rate, placing stress on the natural gas reserves. Yamal authorities are visiting the hole along with two scientists from the Centre for the Study of the Arctic and one from the Cryosphere Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. \[[_Siberian Times_](http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/large-crater-appears-at-the-end-of-the-world/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2992819/hole-siberia-yamal-peninsula/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2992819/hole-siberia-yamal-peninsula/"},"headline":"This Eerie Hole Opened Up at the 'End of the World'","datePublished":"2014-07-16T18:01:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:11:45.105Z","description":"Crater appeared on the Yamal peninsula in northern Russia","url":"https://time.com/2992819/hole-siberia-yamal-peninsula/","keywords":["Newsfeed","russia","Environment","Science topic","Siberia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64ec5ddd0fe80beb/69869bf53bc99992f81a48cd/siberia-hole.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hannah Goldberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64ec5ddd0fe80beb/69869bf53bc99992f81a48cd/siberia-hole.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Siberia Giant Hole","caption":"Siberia Giant Hole","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2992819/hole-siberia-yamal-peninsula/","name":"This Eerie Hole Opened Up at the 'End of the World'"}}]}] ```