EARTH DEGASSING IN THE ARTIC: REMOTE AND FIELD STUDIES OF THE THERMOKARST LAKES GAS ERUPTION

It is proved for the first time that a high power of gas blowout from the bottom of Arctic thermokarst lakes is capable of breaking one-and-a-half-meter-thick ice, forming large ice destruction zones of tens of meters in diameter (in fact up to 15-45 m) and scattering large blocks of ice for distances over 50 m from the epicenter of the explosion. Clearly visible repeated onshore and underwater (from bottoms of lakes and the Myudriyakha River) eruptions (blowout) of gas of cryovolcanic type are detected in the permafrost zone (cryosphere) of the Yamal Peninsula. The connection between the location of lakes with powerful degassing and regional tectonic structures and deep faults is shown. Recommendations are made to improve the safety of human life in the Arctic, especially when developing oil and gas resources. The necessity of expanding research using a complex of geophysical methods is substantiated.

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