Batagaika Crater, Siberia

Batagaika crater is what geologists call a thermokarst depression —cave-ins which results when the permafrost melts. The Batagaika crater, in the Sakha Republic in Russia, started to form in the 1960s after a chunk of forest was cleared for industrial use, triggering a series of catastrophic geologic and environmental events.


The vegetation provides insulation that keeps the ground cool. Once that was removed, the summer heat was able to penetrate deeper into the ground causing the permafrost to melt, and the area began to slump. The crater has been growing ever since, becoming bigger and bigger with each passing year as the climate continues to change.


Source 


What Is Thermokarst? Wikipedia 


Batagaika Crater Siberia.kmz (1.22 KB)

That is a fascinating thermokarst feature.

When I followed your KMZ. I happen to have my Panoramio on and there are  a number of spectacular pictures by    Денис Б  www.panoramio.com/user/6935257?with_photo_id=118326360






It is interesting to see the cover of Larix trees, very uniform, yellowing and loosing their needles in the fall.

In Canada there are also some remarkable examples of permafrost thaw slides. One of the areas I have studied with Google Earth and other satellites is the Caribou River Area Thaw Slide (www.geostrategis.com/p_permafrost-redslide.htm)

It is not as speculator symmetrical and deep as the Batagaika Slide, but it also spans over 850 meters in width.  Below is the most recent hi-res image from Apple Maps






Permafrost Thaw Slide Caribou River Area Yu....kmz (668.85 KB)


I mapped the various phases of slides using different airborne and satellite images on the following 2007 Google Earth Image




A few more Canadian examples of permafrost thaw slides are in this thread: googleearthcommunity.proboards.com/thread/2559/retrogressive-permafrost-thaw-slides