Mysterious 'Remarkably Round' Sinkhole in Field Stumps Russians: Video

The appearance of a potential sinkhole in the middle of a field in southern Russia has caused a stir on social media.

A clip shared on Telegram shows footage panning across flat agricultural land before settling on the large crater several feet in diameter. The video was picked up by other Russian media, which noted how the hole was "remarkably round."

"I have a job that everyone is jealous of today," says the man taking the video in the town of Gukovo in the Rostov region's Krasnosulinsky district, as he uses swear words to express his surprise. The Rostov region borders Ukraine.

"A piece of the field simply went into a mine," he said. "The depth there is scary to look at. You can't see how deep it is."

However, a local administration official told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that there were no mines in the area and the hole was on "agricultural land" in the settlement, had been subsequently filled in and so posed no danger to the public.

"It is impossible to say exactly what caused the collapse, experts will determine this," the unnamed representative said, adding that there were no mines in the area.

The head of the administration of Gukovo, Yevgeny Grinenko, told local news outlet 161.RU, "the owner of the field got rid of the sinkhole in the morning." Newsweek has contacted Grinenko via his Facebook page.

Mikhail Doroshenkov, from the All-Russian Scientific Research Geological Institute, told state news agency RIA Novosti that it may have been a sinkhole caused by groundwater that had dissolved rocks which may have formed underground cavities which had collapsed.

The clip was posted on the Mash Telegram channel with the message, "a crater was formed in the Rostov region and we're not talking about new potholes on the roads."

"Without the local Martians...you definitely can't figure it out," added the Mash post, referring to a town in the Rostov region that is called Mars.

As well as being described as a secret alien base, the hole was nicknamed the "portal to hell."

The video was posted on the "Overheard in Gukovo" page on the VK social network, popular among Russians, sparking a range of reactions at the discovery. "Considering the problems with garbage in the city, the pit can be used to great effect," wrote one user.

Others expressed concern. "No one is giving guarantees that it will not happen somewhere else," wrote one. Another who said they lived nearby said they tried to get answers from local officials. "Apparently no one cares that residential buildings are located a hundred meters from the sinkhole."