Patomskiy crater or Patom crater (also known as “Kolpakov cone”) is a peculiar rock formation located in a remote area in the Irkutsk region of southeastern Siberia, 360 km from the district center Bodaibo. It is a large mound made of shattered limestone blocks, rising from dense taiga. Its base diameter is about 160 meters and a height of about 40 m; the cone’s crown is ring-shaped, and in its center there is a smaller mound with a height of about 12 m. The volume of the crater is estimated as 230-250 thousand cubic meters, with a weight of about one million tons.

Patomskiy crater was discovered in 1949 by Russian geologist Vadim Kolpakov. 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. It is estimated to be only 300 to 350 years old.

The Mysterious Crater of the Siberian Wilderness (www.thebigriddle.com) We like to think that we have the world pretty mapped out. In this age of Google Earth and the ability to zoom into whatever location we want on a whim, there is the conception that there are no new places to be found that lie beyond our all-seeing eye. However, this was not always the case. There was a time where exploration could uncover new natural wonders right over the next hill, and places remained out in the wild frontiers of the world that managed to elude not only detection, but explanation as well. In some cases, the answers to these mysteries have come no closer to being solved even as we have advanced to the age of satellite mapping. One such site can be found in the desolate, rugged wilderness of Russia’s Siberia region. Here, among the silent forests and eternal cold lies a mysterious crater that has long defied efforts to categorize or label it; a place that was stumbled upon by accident and is the very definition of strange natural wonder.Read more…

Unresolved Mysteries (www.reddit.com) In Siberia, Russia, there’s an unusual natural phenomenon that has been called ‘The Most Mysterious Place in Russia’. That phenomenon is The Patomskiy Crater. Trees do not grow on the sides of the crater, but flourish for miles around it. There is a magnetic anomaly inside it, and there is evidence (based on analysis of the nearby trees) that radiation was once very high in and around it. The origins of the crater have been speculated as everything from volcano to meteorite to secret nuclear reactor to multiple (yes, multiple!) UFOs. However, the truth remains unresolved…Read more…

Town Perevoz. Our town is small, but beautiful. River Zhuia runs around it, while the town continue its hard life under the sound of taiga. See the site of the town…