Yamal Peninsula

In the summer of 2007 reindeer herder Yuri Khudi found the well-preserved remains of a 37,000-year-old mammoth calf, dubbed "Lyuba", on the peninsula. The female calf was determined to be one month old{{citation |url =http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/05/mammoths/cloning-interactive |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090419080709/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/05/mammoths/cloning-interactive |url-status=dead | archive-date =19 April 2009 | title =Ice Baby | publisher =National Geographic Magazine | date = May 2009 |access-date =28 December 2014}} at the time of death.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/world/europe/11briefs-mammoth.html |title=Russia: Mammoth's Corpse Found |date=11 July 2007|access-date=23 December 2017|website=The New York Times}}

The Yamal Peninsula is important for the study of climatic history. Dendrochronology is one method used to see how environment has changed.

Dendrochronological research:

• Paper: A continuous multimillennial ring-width chronology in Yamal, northwestern Siberia.Hantemirov and Shiyatov 2002https://www.climateaudit.info/pdf/tree/hantemirov.2002.holocene.pdf
• Paper: An 8768-year Yamal Tree-ring Chronology as a Tool for Paleoecological Reconstructions.Hantemirov, R. & Shiyatov, S. & Gorlanova, Ludmila & Kukarskikh, Vladimir & Surkov, A. & Hamzin, Ildar & Fonti, Patrick & Wacker, L.. (2021). An 8768-year Yamal Tree-ring Chronology as a Tool for Paleoecological Reconstructions. Russian Journal of Ecology. 52. 419-427. 10.1134/S1067413621050088.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355014991_An_8768-year_Yamal_Tree-ring_Chronology_as_a_Tool_for_Paleoecological_Reconstructions

File:Reindeer herders Yamal 1975.jpg on the Yamal Peninsula in 1975]]

The peninsula consists mostly of permafrost ground and there are numerous lakes of thermokarst origin, the biggest of which are Neito and Yambuto in the central part.{{cite web|url=https://maps.vlasenko.net/smtm1000/r-41_42.jpg|title=R-41_42 Topographic Chart (in Russian)|access-date=6 June 2022}}Google Earth

Many hydrocarbon fields have been discovered on the Yamal Peninsula, including large gas fields. The main hydrocarbon resources are concentrated in the permeable Aptian-Cenomanian complex.{{cite journal |last1=Surikova |first1=E S |last2=Solmin |first2=A E |last3=Guseva |first3=S M |title=Regional model of the geological structure of the Yamal and Gydan oil-and-gas areas |journal=IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science |date=30 October 2018 |volume=193 |issue=1 |pages=012067 |doi=10.1088/1755-1315/193/1/012067|bibcode=2018E&ES..193a2067S |doi-access=free }}

According to anthropologist Sven Haakanson, the Yamal peninsula is the place within the Russian Federation where traditional large-scale nomadic reindeer husbandry is best preserved.{{citation |url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/yamalcu.html |title=Reindeer herders |series=Yamal Culture |publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History |location=Washington |access-date=28 December 2014 |first=Sven |last=Haakanson }}{{cite thesis |first=Sven David |last=Haakanson |publisher=Harvard University |year=2000 |department=Ethnoarchaeology |pages=472 pages |title=Ethnoarchaeology of the Yamal Nenets: Utilizing Emic and Etic Evidence in the Interpretation of Archaeological Residues |type=PhD}} Nenets and Khanty reindeer herders hold about half a million domestic reindeer.

File:Tor icebreaker (2225296).jpg]]

File:ТЭМ7А-0376, Россия, Ямало-Ненецкий автономный округ, линия Обская - Бованенково (Trainpix 216171).jpg was built for the gas fields around Bovanenkovo]]

The area is largely undeveloped, but work is ongoing with several large infrastructure projects, including a gas pipeline and several bridges. Yamal holds Russia's biggest natural gas reserves.{{Cite web|url=http://www.gazprom.com/about/production/projects/mega-yamal/|title=Yamal megaproject|website=Gazprom.com|access-date=2016-04-12}} The 572 km Obskaya–Bovanenkovo railway, completed in 2011, is the northernmost railway in the world.{{Cite web|url=http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/obskaya-bovanenkovo/|title=Obskaya–Bovanenkovo Railroad|website=Railway Technology|access-date=2016-04-12}} Russian gas monopolist Gazprom had planned to develop the Yurkharovskoye gas field by 2011–2012. The peninsula's gas reserves are estimated to be 55 trillion cubic meters (tcm).{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/oct/20/yamal-gas-reserves|title=Yamal peninsula: The world's biggest gas reserves|first=Luke|last=Harding|date=20 October 2009|access-date=23 December 2017|website=Theguardian.com}} Russia's largest energy project in history, known as the Yamal project, puts the future of nomadic reindeer herding at considerable risk.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}

{{main|Gas emission crater}}

{{for|impact craters in Siberia|List of impact craters in Asia and Russia}}

{{See also|Arctic methane release}}

In 2014, Yamal was the discovery site of a distinct sinkhole, dubbed {{ill|Yamal crater|lt="Yamal crater"|ru|Ямальский кратер}}, which quickly drew the attention of world media.{{cite web |last=Gates |first=Sara |date=16 July 2014 |title=Giant hole forms in Siberia, and nobody can explain why |website=HuffPost|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/16/giant-hole-siberia-crater-end-of-world_n_5591780.html |access-date=28 December 2014}} The sinkhole appeared to be the result of a huge explosion and several hypotheses were suggested to explain the formation of the crater, including a hit by a meteorite or a UFO, or the collapse of an underground gas facility.{{cite magazine |last=Bogoyavlensky |first=Vasily |date=October 2015 |title=Gas Blowouts on the Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas |magazine=GEO ExPro |issn=1744-8743 |publisher=GEO Publishing Ltd. |volume=12 |number=5 |pages=74–78|url=http://assets.geoexpro.com/uploads/5d5ac83b-3ea6-40ca-ad42-4092913100b0/GEO_ExPro_v12i5.pdf |access-date=27 July 2016}}

A spokesperson for the Yamal branch of the Emergencies Ministry said, "We can definitely say that it’s not a meteorite.".{{cite web |last=Winter |first=Lisa |date=16 July 2014 |title=Huge Crater Mysteriously Appears in Siberia |publisher=IFL Science |url=http://www.iflscience.com/environment/huge-crater-mysteriously-appears-siberia |access-date=5 August 2014}} Cryovolcanism has been pointed out as the most probable cause in recent researches.{{cite journal |last1=Buldovicz |first1=Sergey N. |last2=Khilimonyuk |first2=Vanda Z. |last3=Bychkov |first3=Andrey Y. |last4=Ospennikov |first4=Evgeny N. |last5=Vorobyev |first5=Sergey A. |last6=Gunar |first6=Aleksey Y. |last7=Gorshkov |first7=Evgeny I. |last8=Chuvilin |first8=Evgeny M. |last9=Cherbunina |first9=Maria Y. |last10=Kotov |first10=Pavel I. |last11=Lubnina |first11=Natalia V. |last12=Motenko |first12=Rimma G. |last13=Amanzhurov |first13=Ruslan M. |title=Cryovolcanism on the Earth: Origin of a Spectacular Crater in the Yamal Peninsula (Russia) |journal=Scientific Reports |date=10 September 2018 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=13534 |doi=10.1038/s41598-018-31858-9 |pmid=30202065 |pmc=6131154 |bibcode=2018NatSR...813534B |language=en |issn=2045-2322|doi-access=free }}

The 60-meter (66-yard) crater is believed by a senior researcher from the Scientific Research Center of the Arctic, Andrei Plekhanov, in remarks to the Associated Press, to be likely the result of a "buildup of excessive pressure" underground because of warming regional temperatures in that portion of Siberia.{{cite web|url=http://news.msn.com/offbeat/66-yard-crater-appears-in-far-northern-Siberia|title=News|website=news.msn.com|access-date=23 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811040408/http://news.msn.com/offbeat/66-yard-crater-appears-in-far-northern-siberia|archive-date=11 August 2014|url-status=dead}} Tests conducted by Plekhanov's team showed unusually high concentrations of methane near the bottom of the sinkhole.{{cite journal|url=http://www.nature.com/news/mysterious-siberian-crater-attributed-to-methane-1.15649|title=Mysterious Siberian crater attributed to methane|first=Katia|last=Moskvitch|journal=Nature|year=2014|access-date=23 December 2017|doi=10.1038/nature.2014.15649|s2cid=131534214 |doi-access=free}}{{cite web |last=Luntz |first=Stephen |date=2 August 2014 |title=Scientists May Have Solved The Siberian Crater Mystery |website=Business Insider |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-siberian-crater-mystery-2014-8?nr_email_referer=1 |access-date=5 August 2014 }}

The destabilization of gas hydrates containing huge amounts of methane gas is believed to have caused the craters on the Yamal Peninsula.

As of 2015, the Yamal peninsula had at least five similar craters.{{cite web |last=Winter |first=Lisa |date=26 February 2015 |title=There are more bizarre craters opening up in Siberia, and scientists still don't know what's causing them |website=businessinsider.com |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/more-bizarre-craters-opening-up-in-siberia-2015-2?IR=T |access-date=27 July 2016 |quote=We know now of seven craters in the Arctic area. Five are directly on the Yamal peninsula, one in Yamal Autonomous district, and one is on the north of the Krasnoyarsk region, near the Taimyr peninsula,...}} Another crater appeared in August 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/giant-new-50-metre-deep-crater-opens-up-in-arctic-tundra/|title=Giant new 50-metre deep crater opens up in Arctic tundra|website=siberiantimes.com |first=Anna |last=Liesowska |date=29 August 2020 |access-date=30 December 2023}}

According to researchers at Norway's {{Interlanguage link multi|Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate|no|3=Senter for arktisk gasshydrat, miljø og klima}} (CAGE), through a process called geothermal heat flux, the Siberian permafrost, which extends to the seabed of the Kara Sea, a section of the Arctic Ocean between the Yamal Peninsula and Novaya Zemlya, is thawing. According to a CAGE researcher, Aleksei Portnov:

{{blockquote|"The permafrost is thawing from two sides... [T]he interior of the Earth is warm and is warming the permafrost from the bottom up. It is called geothermal heat flux and it is happening all the time, regardless of human influence."|source=CAGE 2014}}

{{blockquote|"The thawing of permafrost on the ocean floor is an ongoing process, likely to be exaggerated by the global warming of the world´s oceans."|source=CAGE 2014}}

Methane is leaking in an area of at least 7500 m². In some areas gas flares extend up to {{convert|25|meters|abbr=on}}. Prior to their research it was proposed that methane was tightly sealed into the permafrost by water depths up to {{convert|100|m|abbr=on}}. Close to the shore however, where the permafrost seal tapers to a depth of as little as {{convert|20|m|abbr=on}}, there are significant amounts of gas leakage.{{citation |url=https://cage.uit.no/news/methane-leaking-permafrost-seal-offshore-siberia/ |title=Methane is leaking from permafrost offshore Siberia |first=Maja |last=Sojtaric |publisher=Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate (CAGE) |location=Tromsø, Norway |access-date=28 December 2014 |date=18 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228214423/https://cage.uit.no/news/methane-leaking-permafrost-seal-offshore-siberia/ |archive-date=28 December 2014 |url-status=dead }}

• Yamal cuisine
• Gyda Peninsula

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.vehi.net/brokgauz/all/120/120325.shtml Ялмал], статья ЭСБЕ {{in lang|ru}}
• [https://archive.today/20121221145434/http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/bse/article/00094/91900.htm Статья БСЭ]Great Soviet Encyclopedia {{in lang|ru}}
• [http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/yamalcu.html Yamal Culture] {{in lang|en}}
• [http://www.yamalpeninsulatravel.com/nenets/ Article on Nenets culture, religion and history] {{in lang|en}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Peninsulas of Russia

Category:Landforms of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug