Man ‘caused some of the tundra blasts forming the large holes’, says leading scientist in surprising new theory.

Dissecting them like surgical abscesses to release the gas seen as one solution to avoid future eruptions.

Pipes are built over bulging and unstable Arctic pingos prone to violent eruptions caused by 'thawing methane gas', as seen twice on the Yamal peninsula this year.

Blocks of soil and ice thrown hundreds of metres from epicentre of the funnel at the Yamal peninsula.

Scientists rush to site of latest tundra eruption - which formed a crater 50 metres deep - amid fears for homes and key industrial sites.

Giant holes created when pingos erupted after filling with gas.

200 metres wide thermocirque seen weeks after scientists find funnel in the Yamal peninsula, caused by build up of methane.