climate Warming may lead to melting of the permafrost, which on the surface may go unexplored viruses, RIA Novosti reported, citing a senior researcher the North-Eastern scientific-experimental station in the village of Chersky Pacific Institute of geography Feb RAS Sergey Davydov.
“the Tenth part of territory of Russia is permafrost. It rocks, sediments, frozen millions of years ago. There was a huge mammoth ecosystem with animals like mammoths, musk oxen, woolly rhinoceroses, there was their illness. Now it is melting,” – said Sergey Davydov.
According to the scientist, the number of the Yukaghirs – the people of northeastern Siberia had reduced because of smallpox, which led to high mortality. It is possible that somewhere in the permafrost smallpox preserved. In addition, the remains of mammoths found anthrax. Similar epidemics, which were in the past, need to be studied.
In turn, Deputy Director for science of the permafrost Institute. P. I. Melnikov, SB RAS Alexander Fedorov notes that climate change in Yakutia increases the risk of the release of anthrax burial grounds and ancient bacteria.
