Complex of Geophysical Studies of the Seyakha Catastrophic Gas Blowout Crater on the Yamal Peninsula, Russian Arctic

• Published in: Geosciences
• Main Authors: Vasily Bogoyavlensky, Igor Bogoyavlensky, Roman Nikonov, Aleksei Kishankov
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2020
• Subjects: Arctic; Yamal Peninsula; gas blowout; gas explosion; crater; permafrost; pingo; pingo-like feature (PLF); unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); ground penetrating radar (GPR); Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10060215

This article describes the main results of two Arctic expeditions in 2017–2018 to study the Seyakha Crater in the north of Western Siberia, Yamal Peninsula. It was formed on a place of a pingo-like feature (PLF) by huge blowout, self-ignition, and explosion of gas on 28 June 2017. In 2018, for the first time, the integration of geophysical studies on the Yamal Peninsula revealed in detail an Arctic gas-blowout crater within a river channel and adjacent land with permafrost. On the basis of unmanned aerial vehicle photography, echo sounding, and ground penetrating radar survey data processing, a 3D digital elevation model (DEM) of the crater and the structure of near-surface deposits was created. A previously unknown uplift inside the permafrost layers, probably connected with the processes of gas chamber formation, was revealed. A long period of continuous gas emission (mainly, biogenic methane) from the Seyakha C11 Crater (2017–2019) and other existing data show evidence for a gas-dynamic mechanism of the PLF growth and a volcanic type of eruption.