Russia's ‘mouth to hell’ 282-foot-deep crater is set to engulf everything around it

Batagaika crater was first measured in the 1980s and has since grown to be one kilometre in length and 86-metres-deep. (Image credit: @cartographer_s/Twitter)

Batagaika crater in Russia's Siberia, also known as "mouth to hell" is a 282-feet-deep gaping hole in the Earth’s surface. Locals believe it is a passage to the underworld.

It was first measured in the 1980s and has since grown to be one kilometre in length and 86-metres-deep (approximately 282.1 feet). Scientists believe that the crater is the result of a melting permafrost land, which was frozen during the Quaternary Ice Age 2.58 million years ago, Daily Mirror reported.

According to the report, when the forest area was cleared in the 1960s, sunlight reached the ground and started to warm it. As the ice in the soil began to melt, the land sank. And as the frozen ground thaws, the crater grows in size.

#Siberia 2020: heat, fire and melting ice#ClimateChange has many impacts

Siberia's #Batagaika crater is the world's largest permafrost crater. As the frozen ground thaws, it grows.#Sentinel2multi-temporal image of 2016-2020 evolution Via @defis_eupic.twitter.com/ms69LqEE54 — World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) July 31, 2020

Scientists predict that more 'mouths to hell’ may soon appear around the world due to the impact of global warming.

Satellite images of the Batagaika crater in Russia show a colossal mass of Earth sinking and appearing to pull in everything around it.

Can't believe I never saw this remarkable (and terrifying) example of #geomorphology. Headward retreat of the Batagaika 'crater' - a landscape rapidly eroding through permafrost - has resulted in the escarpment defining this feature moving hundreds of meters in a few decades. pic.twitter.com/cVDWBzq6UZ — Sam Johnstone (@SedimentStarved) January 7, 2019

The Batagaika Crater is located in Siberia It was created by thawing of perma frost and flooding which caused the land to sink creating the giant crater It is 1km long and 100m deep Scientists say it gets 10m larger every year pic.twitter.com/D8hT3Ie2Bw

— Alexander's Cartographer (@cartographer_s) March 9, 2021

The Batagaika crater is growing by 20 to 30 metres each year year and is unstoppable. At this pace, the "mouth to hell" is set to engulf everything around it.

A study presented in 2016 by Frank Günther from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany revealed that the head wall of the crater has grown by an average of 10 metres (33 feet) per year over the past decade of observations, reported WION.