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mk · 3762 days ago · link · · parent · post: Scientists may have cracked the giant Siberian crater mystery — and the news isn’t good.
Sounds reasonable; basically a methane boil as all these pockets start coalescing into ever bigger pockets in a runaway reaction? Still, since it's always above freezing under the permafrost (according to Wikipedia, a max thickness of 4m, and that crater looks far deeper), perhaps these pockets are common, and there are many places where the permafrost serves as a cap over columns of foamy earth. Maybe the freeze-thaw cycle isn't so important in the formation of these foamy regions, but more so in the degradation of the caps over them?