Siberia's 'Eagle's Nest'? A meteorite, a nuke or gulag inmates? Scientists baffled

Is this to do with the Siberian "kettles" that are space-alien, anti-meteor defence devices?

That was the result of the first Russian to use 500 model rocket engines to launch himself into the air

The origin of the Patomskiy crater has baffled scientists for decades and theories for its existence have ranged from a nuclear blast to a secret gulag mine and even a meteorite strike.

a secret gulag mine?

Scientists now think that there is something with a high iron content and ferromagnetic materials buried between 100 and 150 metres underneath the crater.

They believe it could be a meteorite or another incredibly dense object, but they are not certain.

The fact that the crater is ‘alive’ as its shape changes constantly - by rising and falling - and that the trees nearby the site are reported to grow abnormally fast, adds to the mystery.

Could be. A lot of zeks died in the mines of Vorkuta so that Joe Stalin could have plenty of gold.

riiight

A meteorite impact would throw out ejecta far from the crater. This looks more like the remains you would see from a boring augur working it's way into the earth. Did the Russians start up an autonomous boring machine and let it go straight down?

Not yet.

The rock is pulverized but it shows little signs of erosion so this has to be a recent event. The rocks are not thrown out but pushed out from the center. Even a low energy impact would throw rocks out and there is no sign of that. There is no sign of heating of the rock. They are broken with sharp edges. The site is a mound and not a crater. Something underneath the mound has displaced the rock up and out but at a very low velocity.

solid iron meteorite i reckon

it would have been slowed to just over terminal velocity, and that diameter of that round pile is probably quite close to the diameter of the object below imho

good thread.