About
The unique limestone mound known as the Patomskiy Crater was originally known to indigenous people as the "Fire Eagle Nest," a place of "evil spirits." From when it was first identified by the scientific community in 1949, scientists vigorously debated its origins. The 600-million-year-old limestone is usually found deep underground, making the crater extremely out of place. Origin theories ranged from a fragment of the notorious Tunguska Explosion meteorite to a volcanic eruption to a salt diapir (uplift). The crater's remoteness certainly did not help in solving the matter.
The dearth of satisfactory research or explanations also led to more fringe, unscientific theories. Such include it being created by aliens or that it was a secret Gulag mine. Even more mysteriously, the trees immediately surrounding the crater have experienced accelerated growth, despite geiger counters finding no abnormal radiation.
Only relatively recently has in-depth research begun to clear up the confusion. A conference dedicated specifically to the crater dated it to around 500 years ago. They ruled out that it was a meteor crater and concluded that it most likely formed from a surface eruption of gas. Still, a lack of followup research still leaves those findings open to criticism and debate.
