{{Short description|Geologic feature in southeastern Russia}} {{refimprove|date=October 2016}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Patomskiy crater | other_name = Patom crater<br>Kolpakov Cone | image = Patomsky crater.jpg | image_caption = View of the Patom Crater from a helicopter (2014) | elevation_m = 40 | elevation_ref = | prominence_m = | prominence_ref = | location = Patom Highlands<br/>Irkutsk Oblast, Russia | map = Russia Irkutsk Oblast | map_caption = Location in Irkutsk Oblast | range_coordinates = | map_size = 225 | coordinates = {{coord|59.284855|116.589332|type:landmark_region:RU|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_ref = | topo = | type = | age = | first_ascent = | embedded = }} The '''Patomskiy crater''' or '''Patom crater''' ({{langx|ru|Патомский кратер}}, ''Patomskiy Krater''), also known as {{lang|ru|Конус Колпакова}}, ''Konus Kolpakova'' "Kolpakov cone")<ref name="st">{{Cite news |last=Baklitskaya |first=Kate |date=2012-10-04 |title=A volcano or a UFO? What created this mysterious Siberian crater? |url=https://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/a-volcano-or-a-ufo-what-created-this-mysterious-siberian-crater/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815063911/https://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/a-volcano-or-a-ufo-what-created-this-mysterious-siberian-crater/ |archive-date=2021-08-15 |website=The Siberian Times}}</ref> is a peculiar rock formation located in the Bodaibo District of the Irkutsk region of southeastern Siberia, {{convert|360|km}} from the district center Bodaibo.<ref name="mysouth">{{cite web |title=Scientists Have Rejected The Meteoritic Origin Patomskiy Crater In Siberia |url=http://mysouth.su/2011/04/scientists-have-rejected-the-meteoritic-origin-patomskiy-crater-in-siberia/ |accessdate=21 January 2018 |website=mysouth.su}}</ref> It is a large mound made of shattered limestone blocks on the slopes of the Patom Highlands in an area of dense taiga. Its base diameter is about {{convert|160|m}} and its height about {{convert|40|m}}; the cone's crown is ring-shaped, and in its center there is a smaller mound with a height of about {{convert|12|m}}. The volume of the crater is estimated as {{convert|230000|–|250000|m3|e6ft3|abbr=none}}, with a weight of about one million tons.
The Patomskiy crater was described by Russian geologist Vadim Kolpakov in 1949, though it was known to the local population before this. Its origins have been subject of intense scientific interest, with hypotheses including meteorite, volcanic and gaseous origin, but to date no definite proof has been given. Through dendrochronology, the age of the crater is estimated to be 300 years.<ref name=journal>{{cite journal |last1=Antipin |first1=V. S. |last2=Fedorov |first2=A. M. |title=The origin of Patom Crater, East Siberia, from geological and geochemical data |journal=Doklady Earth Sciences |date=December 2008 |volume=423 |issue=2 |pages=1335–1339 |doi=10.1134/S1028334X08090018 |bibcode=2008DokES.423.1335A |s2cid=128949126 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252230386 |access-date=11 June 2022}}</ref><!--the Yakutian name is translated as "the nest of a fiery eagle". (source?)-->
==Theories of origin== Until recently, some scientists believed that the crater presents a large footprint of an ultra-dense meteorite, which had sunk underground upon impact. Another hypothesis was that it is a fragment of the Tunguska meteorite.<ref name=journal/> Others believed that the crater is a result of a breakthrough of a deep pocket of natural gas.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stazhevsky |first=S.B. |date=January 2012 |title=Origination and development mechanics of the Earth's morphostructures. Part II: The nature of diatreme, karst and trappean formations, and the chicxulub crater origin. |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S1062739148010078 |journal=Journal of Mining Science |publisher=Springer Link |volume=48 |pages=55–70 |doi=10.1134/S1062739148010078 |url-access=subscription |access-date=3 July 2024}}</ref> Several scientific expeditions have been sent to the crater but the nature of its origin remains a mystery.<ref name=mysouth/> A study conducted by V. S. Antipin and A. M. Fedorov showed, through morphological, structural and chemical data, that the crater is volcanic in origin. The presence of weathered breccias, the diameter/height ratio typical of volcanic cones, the absence of geochemical anomalies linked to cosmogenic origins, and its zoning of different ages, clearly contradict the meteorite hypothesis.<ref name=journal/> The origin of the cone is therefore thought to be extrusive, caused by a rapid outbreak of deep fluids ({{CO2|link=yes}} and {{H2O}}) and gases (CO and H<sub>2</sub>).{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}
===Patom Crater Conference, 2010=== In 2010, Saint Petersburg Mining Institute held a scientific conference "Patom Crater 2010". Viktor Sergeyevich Antipin, head of a department at the St. Petersburg Institute of Geochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IG SB RAS), stated that "Since the 2006 expedition by the Institute of Geochemistry (IGC), RAS came to the conclusion that the Patomskiy crater probably originates from geological processes. An important fact is that no serious argument or evidence of a meteorite crater nature referred to by specialists had been given. There was not any new evidence to support the meteorite hypothesis."{{cn|date=November 2020}} Antipin further noted that at the conference, for the first time, all the experts rejected the meteoric hypothesis. "Now it has only historical interest," he added.{{cn|date=November 2020}}
According to studies by Siberian scientists, the crater formed only 300 to 350 years ago.{{cn|date=November 2020}} The zoning of the crater was caused by geological processes and intensive introduction of deep gas flows of matter, which led to the transformation of silicate rocks within the crater.{{cn|date=November 2020}} "An important confirmation of these ideas were the result of geophysics from Saint Petersburg Mining University and Yekaterinburg [Institute of Geophysics, UB RAS]. Performing gravimetric and geoelectrical investigations, they also came to the firm conviction that Patom crater has an origin of an endogenetic nature," said Antipin.{{cn|date=November 2020}} According to geophysicists of St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, meteorite impact craters have a very different shape, and Patom crater is not one of them, he added.{{cn|date=November 2020}}
==See also== {{Portal|Siberia}} * Lake Baikal * ''Ed Stafford: Into The Unknown'' (Episode 2 - Siberia)
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
===(in English)=== * {{cite news|last1=Baklitskaya|first1=Kate|title=A volcano or a UFO? What created this mysterious Siberian crater?|url=http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/a-volcano-or-a-ufo-what-created-this-mysterious-siberian-crater/|accessdate=16 July 2014|publisher=Siberian Times|date=4 October 2012|archive-date=25 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725015223/http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/a-volcano-or-a-ufo-what-created-this-mysterious-siberian-crater/|url-status=dead}} * [http://englishrussia.com/2013/05/27/huge-eagle-nest-in-the-woods/ englishrussia.com article 2013/05/27]
===(in Russian)=== * [https://archive.today/20130417083325/http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11787&sid=000851e7536520841538933c373b8aa8 Ученые отвергли метеоритное происхождение Патомского кратера в Сибири 08/04/2011 ] * [http://elementy.ru/video?pubid=431244 Видео. Лекция прочитана 26 февраля 2009 года в Москве, в ФИАНе] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100330193915/http://kp.ru/search/?query=%CF%E0%F2%EE%EC%F1%EA%E8%E9+%EA%F0%E0%F2%E5%F0 Экспедиция «Комсомольской правды» и Сибирского отделения РАН при участии Первого канала] * [http://news.mail.ru/inregions/siberian/38/5644950/ Открыта тайна Патомского кратера]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnWN31z6RKg Patomskiy crater on YouTube] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809100831/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnWN31z6RKg |date=2016-08-09 }} * [http://www.tainoe.ru/anomalia/zoni/ano-zoni-Ru-potam.htm Патомский кратер В «Гнезде огненного орла»]
Category:Landforms of Irkutsk Oblast Category:Landforms of Russia Category:Unexplained phenomena