Popigay crater in Siberia (photo)

On the planet Earth repeatedly "spilled" a meteor shower. After the fall, the huge fragments of the meteorite left distinct traces on the earth's surface-astroblems of colossal dimensions. Scientists surveyed about 150 huge "star wounds" with a diameter that fluctuates in the range of 25-500 kilometers.

A fairly large asteroid dent is the Popigai crater, located on the territory of Russia. By the size of the diameter, it takes the fourth place. Popigay astroblem is a monument of nature of planetary scale, which is under the protection of UNESCO.

Location Popigai Crater

Approximately 35 million years ago in Siberia, in the northern part of the Anabar Shield, where the Yakutia borders on the Irkutsk region, a giant monolithic celestial body in the form of a cylinder crashed into the earth. Split the earth's surface in the Popigai river basin, the meteorite left on it a huge gaping funnel depth of 150 meters.

The asteroid Popigai crater, where a unique deposit of black diamonds is located, occupies a part of the northeast expanses of the Krasnodar Territory. The eastern side of the dent stretched across Yakutia. Found a mysterious astroblem with a diameter of 100 kilometers in 1949, D. Kozhevin.

The structure of the Popigai crater

The Popigay astroblem is a rather large ring structure. It is a combination of rings and ovals. This "star wound" looks like a rounded relief depression. The depth of the funnel reaches 200-400 meters. Its interior space is partially filled with quaternary sands and pebbles.

The ring of the outer funnel reaches a width of 20-25 kilometers. Its sides are composed of sedimentary rocks. They underwent a severe deformation that arose as a result of centrifugal thrusts and radial discontinuities with huge amplitude displacements.

The diameter of the inner funnel is 45 kilometers. It is formed by a ring rise with traces of shock action. It shows the destruction and inclusions of the glass. It formed a thick thick layer of pasty substance.

The Popigai crater in Yakutia has a central layer composed of impactites. Its thickness is about two and a half kilometers. Friable materials, of varying size, lumps and debris formed an allogeneic breccia with a thickness of 150 meters. Impactites are formed by glasses, fused with gneisses and minerals.

The meteorite explosion in the epicenter was accompanied by a pressure of 105 pascals and a temperature of the order of 2000 ^° C. This led to the fact that the gneisses melted to liquid state. The mobile masses, spreading radially with enormous speed, formed ring structures. Flowing out from the center with streams and streams, they lined the bottom of the funnel.

The incredibly strong impact of the asteroid on the ground led to the formation of a central uplift. Then, swelling increased by inertia as long as the crater was filled, and the elastic recoil was strong enough.

Astroblems

The area surrounding the Popigai crater is practically not populated. In the north-west astroblems there is a small village of the same name - Popigai. There are still no trees grown, despite the fact that the hills are tightened by them for twenty years after the cessation of mining.

Stony placers scatter here under your feet, like sand. Soft rocks partially weathered. The reason for this - the movement of the seams up and down. Between the calcareous debris formed deep emptiness.

There were found a decent supply of water. The aquifers lie at a depth of one meter. Water, freezing in voids, promotes "settling" of layers. The Popigai meteorite crater is the place where a magnetic anomaly was discovered during the sounding of the soil . Probably, it contains an alloy of iron-containing substances.

Hypotheses of the "Great Break"

In 1970, scientists based on studies of naked rocks, the deposits of which suffered shock melting and crushing, put forward a hypothesis about the meteorite origin of astroblems. According to researchers, the cosmic body crashed into the Siberian lands in the era of the Eocene-Oligocene extinction. "The Great Fracture" happened simultaneously with the formation of astroblems.

Crater is the cause of nuclear winter

Scientists associate the mass of animals with the fall of a meteorite. They believe that the fallen celestial body caused the death of toothed whales, mollusks and sea urchins, rather than climatic conditions. It is the asteroid - the main catalyst of this negative phenomenon in nature. Its fall caused a nuclear winter that killed animals.

Faced with the surface of the earth, giant cosmic bodies force many particles to rise into the atmosphere. Sunlight, reflected from the particles, leads to a global cooling. Scientists have analyzed the isotopes of oxygen, carbon and other elements that make up the Eocene-age coevals, and concluded that when the Popigai crater in Siberia appeared, there was a sharp change in climatic conditions. The climate from wet and warm has become dry and cold.

Researches of scientists confirm, that at a space collision there was an instant powerful emission of tiny particles of sulfur. They, having flooded the atmosphere, became reflectors of light and heat. Changes in the climate have led to fatal consequences - the disappearance of many species of animals and plants.

Geological studies of the crater

After the discovery, the Popigai Crater became a site for geological exploration. Geologists have discovered there two largest diamond deposits. In the deposit "Rocky" there are 140, and in "Impact" - 7 billion carats.

Diamonds here appeared as a result of the short-term impact of extremely high temperatures and pressure on coal and graphite deposits. Diamonds found in basalt rocks gave a unique name - yakutite.

Until 2012, information on black diamonds was not disclosed. Immediately after the discovery of deposits, information about them was classified, and the study of the found diamond placers ceased. Experts have calculated that it is more profitable to continue the production of synthetic diamonds than to extract and process natural stones. In addition, geologists have spoken about black diamonds as follows: stones with super strength are unsuitable for jewelry processing, they are ideal for grinding work.

Geologists, exploring the Popigai crater, were engaged in rock drilling. Samples were extracted from wells with a depth of 1.7 kilometers. At present, around one thousand tons of cores are scattered on the surface of the earth in the area of the abandoned Mayak settlement.

Expedition 2013

The interest in diamond placers astroblems Popigay revived quite recently. In 2013, the expedition was sent to the crater. The results of new research have turned into a sensation. Forecasts of scientists prompted the idea that the Russian Federation is capable of crashing the global diamond market.

Prospects of diamond deposits Popigai

Despite the grandiose nature of diamond placers, the development of deposits remains a big question. Although rich in diamonds scattered literally at their feet, the Popigai crater, whose photo was taken from different angles, it turns out that it is still economically inexpedient to extract them.

On the one hand, there is no need to lay mines, shallow deposits easily excavate excavators. On the other hand, their production will not only collapse the world market of technical diamonds, but also the Russian economy, too. After all, Russia is the strongest player in the diamond market.

They are not in a hurry with the extraction of black diamonds also because their placers are too far from the roads, they are not supplied with electricity, they will have to be carried out in harsh climatic conditions. The creation of an industrial infrastructure will require huge investments.

Basalt lava, saturated with diamonds, is so hard that shearing tools can not handle it. For the extraction of stones, innovative technologies and equipment, research work, laboratory experiments are needed.

These aspects entail serious financial and organizational problems and lead to a conclusion about the unprofitability of diamond mining. But even if profitability from the development of deposits becomes obvious, it is not a fact that the stones will begin to be extracted. After all, the universal monument of Popigai is guarded by UNESCO.