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[Gaby]

Can't remember this one from 2024. It's like over 40 giant sinkholes at the bottom of Lake Michigan, they're up to 300 meters (1000 feet) wide and 12 m (40 feet) deep. They were discovered in 2022.

It seems off gassing and/or earth "opening up". And pretty concentrated in that area of the world. There are more between Michigan and Canada.

Lucky that shipwreck hunters brought this up, otherwise no one would have looked, at least officially. It seems they were literally not there before. They would not disclose when was the last time they looked, if they did.

Image credit: Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary

Scientists confirm there are 40 huge craters at the bottom of Lake Michigan

Researchers recently surveyed the bottom of Lake Michigan after spotting strange circles on the lakebed in 2022. New observations show the circles are craters, but how they formed remains unclear.

www.livescience.com

Researchers recently surveyed the bottom of Lake Michigan after spotting strange circles on the lakebed in 2022. New observations show the circles are craters, but how they formed remains unclear.

Two years ago, sonar images revealed strange circles at the bottom of Lake Michigan that scientists couldn't explain. Now, a survey has determined the shapes are giant holes — but there are many more secrets left to unravel, researchers say.

The holes were first discovered in 2022, when researchers embarked on a mission to map the lakebed inside the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, a protected area of Lake Michigan that contains 36 known shipwrecks, and may contain many more. Weird circles appeared on the map that looked natural rather than human-made, Russ Green, a maritime archaeologist and superintendent of the sanctuary who took part in the mapping project, told Live Science in an email. The shapes were likely depressions in the lakebed, but the researchers couldn't be sure.


"Any kind of new discovery in the Great Lakes is exciting," Green said. "But these features really stand out — they are in deeper water (500 feet [150 meters] ish) and weren't known before, as far as we can tell."

Brendon Baillod, a local shipwreck hunter, spotted the mysterious circles around the same time as Green and his colleagues while searching for a sunken freighter. To his eyes, the circles were clearly depressions, or craters, measuring between 20 and 40 feet (6 to 12 m) deep, Baillod told Live Science in an email. "There were dozens of them in our search grid," he said. "Most were 500 to 1,000 feet [150 to 300 m] in diameter and of irregular shapes."

There was a lag in processing data from the initial mapping expedition, but Green, Baillod and their colleagues eventually contacted scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), Green said.

This year, the research teams conducted a joint survey to examine the circles more closely. On Aug. 21, they used a remotely operated vehicle to confirm that the shapes are enormous, naturally-occurring craters. Scientists counted roughly 40 of them, but there are likely more to be found, Steve Ruberg, a researcher at GLERL, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The craters were like "perfect, little circles" on the lakebed about 14 miles (23 kilometers) southeast of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Ruberg said, and extended southwards in a line toward Port Washington, also in Wisconsin.

Researchers previously found similar depressions at the bottom of Lake Huron, which borders Michigan and Canada. Those depressions turned out to be sinkholes, which are caverns that form — both underwater and on land — when groundwater dissolves the bedrock from below, causing the surface layer to collapse. Lake Michigan partly sits on limestone, which is prone to dissolution, so it's likely that the craters on the lakebed are also sinkholes, Ruberg said.

Others are holding off on calling the circles sinkholes until more research has been done. "I think they might be more accurately called craters, which have formed in the deep bottom sediment due either to water upwelling from below or trapped hydrocarbon offgassing," Baillod said.

The recent survey found no water escaping from the holes that would suggest there is groundwater circulating beneath the lakebed, but Ruberg said he expects researchers will eventually detect some. Images and videos of the holes showed freshwater shrimp, small fish and invasive quagga mussels "doing their thing in the dark down there," he said.

It's unclear what impact the holes might be having on Lake Michigan as a whole, but researchers are confident they will find out in time. "We'll be exploring them for years to come to learn more, and sort out how they got there and what role they play in Lake Michigan's ecosystem," Green said.

They'll find out soon enough, for sure!

Researchers used a remotely operated vehicle to take this photograph of the lakebed inside one of the holes at the bottom of Lake Michigan. (Image credit: Brendon Baillod and Dusty Klifman)

 

[Puma]

RUSSIA. Record snowfall on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Reports from NDTV, AP News, and local sources confirm that it was an extreme snowfall that buried buildings up to the second floor. (Verified video, not AI)

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013349129477349784

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013225992236441805

“The fire hotspots have reignited again...”
Recording from Penco, Chile, where wildfires have killed at least 14 and destroyed hundreds of homes.
Witnesses say Israeli “tourists” are behind the blaze, just as they were in Argentina.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013069598250143954

Chile has declared a state of catastrophe in two southern regions on Sunday, as raging wildfires forced more than 50,000 people to evacuate and killed at least 18 people.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013216115145781550

 

[Puma]

Images of the fires in Chile that have left at least 20 dead and led to a state of emergency being declared

Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe in two regions of the country where devastating forest fires are raging.

At least 20 people have been confirmed dead in the Ñuble and Biobío regions, some 300 miles south of the capital, Santiago.

The most dangerous fire has ravaged dry forests bordering the coastal city of Concepción. Some 536 homes have been destroyed, according to authorities.

Local media are showing images of burned-out cars in the streets. Chile has suffered a series of devastating fires in recent years, exacerbated by prolonged drought.

Like a scene from a movie that no one wants to see, but this is not fiction. This is Concepción #Penco #Lirquén
A state of emergency has been declared as #ForestFires tear through the region. Homes lost. Thousands of people in shelters without a home...
Chile must be more united than ever

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013230712900469080

Chile declares state of emergency in Ñuble and Biobío due to fires that have killed 19 people
Both regions are on red alert, with 14 active fires. The fires have destroyed 325 homes and forced the evacuation of more than 50,000 people.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013243730132660599

 

[Puma]

Severe storm hits Catalonia, Spain. The city of Girona is on alert due to the rising waters of the Onyar River after heavy rains. The City Council has activated its emergency protocol. Businesses are closed, classes are suspended, and residents are being asked to evacuate ground floors in riverside areas. One person is reported missing.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013626577599254715

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013613821613502933

Heavy rains and severe flooding today in Algeria Images of severe flooding in the Jughraf neighborhood, Ghazaouet province, this morning January 20, 2026

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013616753041985646

Violent storm surge affecting the town of Letojanni, Sicily, Italy

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013642363210523094