reply to post by rhines
I'm no geologist, but here is one of the theories:
Among the tundra dominate younger brothers of Patom crater (the one that is at Tunguska, 70 m high). Scientists have not fully defined what that it
is, but the most likely option, that these formations - the result of volcanic activity. Around these "boilers" there are several kimberlite pipes:
Peaceful, Successful, and others (Мирная, Удачная и др.) indicating that volcanic activity is ongoing in these areas. Kimberlite tubes
are hundreds of millions of years old though, and "boilers/cauldrons" are still fresh.
Unusual appearance of these hills: the absence of their usual volcanic craters, might be showing what happens when a volcano feeble attempts to get
through the two-mile layer of permafrost.
As for the connection between the mythical cauldrons and those hills.. well, there was some geological hypothesis (translated from the story about
2008 expedition I gave a link to):
"Since region is rich in unusual geological formations, it was necessary to exclude that part of assumptions. In this paper, "WHAT CAN TELL
XENOLITHS from kimberlites AND TRAPS?" LL Perchuk (Department of Petrology Moscow State University. MV Lomonosov Moscow State University), we found
the following information: "The most common form of occurrence of kimberlite bodies - the tube, but not cylindrical, but rather resembles a pipe
smoking (pipe, Eng.). By its narrowest part it is directed deep into the Earth ... A lot of the tubes has an outlet to the surface, where they filled
the crater kimberlite material and resembles the mushroom hat, the edges of which pass into the ring wave, created by the explosion and release of
tuffs and break through the kimberlite magma. However, further states that "researchers distinguish kimberlite pipes in the structure of its crater -
funnel (funnel diameter of 900 m, 300-350 m in height and angle of inclination of the surface from 50 to 75 degrees), vertical channel (its height is
not more than 2000 m) and the root part, provided a feeding conduit in the form of dikes, the thickness of which varies from a few to a few tens of
meters. " Conversations with several Moscow geologists have convinced us that the object of interest is proportionally smaller in size than the
geological formation. You can believe or not believe the stories of eyewitnesses, but they all talked about the boilers in the size of 5-10 meters in
diameter."
So it seams the researchers are discarding this hypothesis also.
As for speculations..I'd go with some teraforming project and those hills as a byproduct of something. I've also read somewhere some witness
accounts about some huge transperent dome forming there with balls of fire flying around. It's possible everything is natural, but that is no less
interesting
Also, please check that aforementioned story, the guys describe every known expedition there to date.
Have fun
[edit on 17-2-2010 by ilaruum]