Meteor shower has repeatedly "spilled" on the planet Earth. After the fall, huge fragments of the meteorite left distinct traces on the earth's surface - astroblems of colossal proportions. Scientists examined about 150 huge "star wounds" with a diameter ranging from 25-500 kilometers.
The Popigai crater, located in Russia, is considered to be a fairly large asteroid dent. In terms of diameter, it ranks fourth. Popigai astroblem is a natural monument of planetary scale, which is under the protection of UNESCO.
Location of the Popigai Crater
Approximately 35 million years ago in Siberia, in the northern part of the Anabar shield, where Yakutia borders on the Irkutsk region, a giant monolithic celestial body in the form of a cylinder crashed into the earth. Having split the earth's surface in the Popigay River basin, the meteorite left a huge gaping funnel 150 meters deep on it.
Asteroid Popigai crater, where the unique deposit of black diamonds is located, occupies part of the northeasternexpanses of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The eastern side of the dent extended across Yakutia. Discovered a mysterious astroblem with a diameter of 100 kilometers in 1949 by D. Kogevin.
Structure of the Popigai Crater
The Popigai astrobleme is a fairly 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 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 have undergone severe deformation as a result of centrifugal thrusts and radial ruptures with huge amplitude displacements.
The diameter of the inner funnel is 45 kilometers. It was formed by a ring uplift with traces of impact action. It shows the destruction and inclusions of glass. A powerful thick layer of paste-like substance formed in it.
Popigai crater in Yakutia has a central layer composed of impactites. Its thickness is about two and a half kilometers. Loose materials, blocks of various sizes and fragments formed an allogeneic breccia with a thickness of 150 meters. Impactites are formed by glasses, melted gneisses and minerals.
Meteoritic explosion at the epicenter was accompanied by a pressure of 105 Pascals and a temperature of about 20000C. This led to the fact that the gneisses melted to a liquid state. The moving masses, spreading radially at great speed, formed annularstructures. Flowing from the center in jets and streams, they lined the bottom of the funnel.
Incredibly strong impact of an asteroid on the earth led to the formation of a central uplift. Then the swelling increased by inertia until the crater was filled and the elastic recoil was strong enough.
Astroblem features
The area surrounding the Popigay crater is practically uninhabited. In the north-west of the astroblem there is a small village of the same name - Popigay. Trees have not yet grown here, despite the fact that the hills have been covered with them for twenty years after the cessation of mining.
Stony placers here crumble underfoot like sand. The soft rocks have partially weathered. The reason for this is the movement of the layers up and down. Deep voids formed between limestone debris.
Decent reserves of water have been found here. Aquifers lie at a depth of one meter. Water freezing in the voids contributes to the "shaking" of the layers. The Popigai meteorite crater is the place where a magnetic anomaly was discovered during soil probing. It probably contains an alloy of iron-bearing substances.
Great Reversal Hypotheses
In 1970, scientists, based on studies of exposed rocks, the deposits of which suffered impact melting and crushing, put forward a hypothesis about the meteorite origin of the astrobleme. According to researchers, the space body crashed into Siberian lands during the Eocene-Oligocene extinction era. The "Great Break" occurred simultaneously with the formationastroblems.
Crater causes nuclear winter
Scientists link the mass pestilence 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, and not climatic conditions. It is the asteroid that is the main catalyst for this negative phenomenon in nature. Its fall caused a nuclear winter that killed the animals.
Colliding with the surface of the earth, giant space bodies force many particles to rise into the atmosphere. Sunlight reflecting off the particles causes global cooling. Scientists have analyzed the isotopes of oxygen, carbon and other elements that make up rocks of the same age as the Eocene, and came to the conclusion that when the Popigai crater arose in Siberia, there was a sharp change in climatic conditions. The climate went from warm and humid to dry and cold.
Research by scientists confirms that during a cosmic collision there was an instantaneous powerful release of tiny particles of sulfur. They filled the atmosphere and became reflectors of light and heat. Changes in climate have led to fatal consequences - the disappearance of many species of animals and plants.
Geological survey of the crater
After the discovery, the Popigai crater became the site of geological exploration. Geologists have discovered two of the largest diamond deposits there. The Skalnoye deposit contains 140, and the Udarnoye deposit contains 7 billion carats.
Diamonds here came about as a result of a short exposure to extremely high temperatures and pressure on depositscoal and graphite. Diamonds found in bas alt rocks have been given a unique name - yakutite.
Until 2012, information about black diamonds was not disclosed. Immediately after the discovery of the deposits, information about them was classified, and the study of the found diamond placers was stopped. Experts have calculated that it is more profitable to continue the production of synthetic diamonds than to mine and process natural stones. In addition, geologists spoke 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 drilling rocks. Samples were taken from wells 1.7 kilometers deep. Currently, about one thousand tons of cores are scattered on the surface of the earth in the area of the abandoned Mayak village.
Expedition 2013
Interest in the diamond placers of the Popigay astroblem has recently revived. In 2013, an expedition was sent to the crater. The results of new research have become a sensation. Scientists' forecasts suggested that the Russian Federation is capable of collapsing the global diamond market.
Prospects for the Popigay diamond deposits
Despite the grandiosity of the diamond placers, the development of deposits remains a big question. Although rich in diamonds that have crumbled literally at your feet, the Popigai crater, the photo of which was taken from different angles, it turns out that it is still not economically feasible to extract them.
On the one hand, there is no need to lay mines, shallowdeposits can be easily excavated by excavators. On the other hand, their production will collapse not only the world market for industrial diamonds, but also the Russian economy. After all, Russia is the strongest player in the diamond market.
They are in no hurry to extract black diamonds also because their placers are too far from the roads, they have no electricity, the work will have to be done in harsh climatic conditions. Creating an industrial infrastructure will require huge investments.
Bas altic lava, saturated with diamonds, is so hard that cutting tools cannot handle it. The extraction of stones requires innovative technologies and equipment, survey work, laboratory experiments.
These aspects entail serious financial and organizational problems and force us to conclude that diamond mining is unprofitable. But even if the 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 Popigay is protected by UNESCO.
