During this past summer some gas and oil technicians were flying over one of Siberia’s more remote locations and noticed a giant sinkhole.
Its discovery prompted a number of theories as to how it got there, which included explosions, a meteorite hit, and a scenario involving aliens.
Scientists are now a step closer to figuring out what really happened.
A team that included a professional climber was dispatched to the area, and, due to the fact that the soil was frozen solid, were able to get inside of the crater for the first time. During their previous attempts, the ground crumbled when they tried to scale their way down it, making the trek outside of the reasonable realm of possibility.
This time they succeeded and took samples of both the earth and ice within and were able to use radar equipment to map the interior.
The plan is to analyze the materials collected as well as to make a 3D model of the enormous hole.
An official cause of the collapse hasn’t been announced yet, but scientists previously determined that it was triggered by a natural phenomenon that originated on Earth.
