Chemists Finally Unravel the Mystery of Siberia’s Explosive Craters | Underground methane blasts are behind Siberia’s puzzling exploding craters, according to new research.

From the article: If you need one more reason to worry about warming global temperatures, you can add the ground spontaneously blowing up to the list.

In 2014, a bizarre crater was found in Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula. Since then, several more similar holes have been located. Geologists who studied the sites concluded they were the result of explosions.

Those must have been some blasts, as these are not mere potholes. Some of the craters measure as deep as 165 feet (50 meters). High levels of methane were detected in the regions of the craters, leading scientists to believe the combustible gas—large amounts of which are trapped beneath the Siberian permafrost—was being released as the area’s average temperature rose. But further study established melting permafrost alone wouldn’t have caused the blast.

Now, we finally know what likely happened, thanks to a team of chemical engineers. Publishing their [findings](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL108987) in Geophysical Research Letters, the scientists wrote that rapid underground pressure changes played a key role in things going kablooey.

I swore this was figured out years ago.

Isn’t this unraveling at least a decade old?