[Cold Heat]

Methane from permafrost thawing is a known process..

The permafrost begins inches or feet below the surface. Growth of vegetation, moss, lichens, over the summer warming, then freezes and the following season new growth flourishes over the top of the old.

So yes, there are layers and layers and layers of decaying or partly decayed matter which during the seasonal thaws releases methane, or natural gas which sometimes can ignite from lightning or other natural or man made causes.

To explode, conditions have to be right, perhaps with a cave or underground grotto with the right mixture of air and gas and a ignition source.

It could happen, but whether it happened here requires research. It does not look like much of a explosion to me..

More like a ground fart.

[cripplecreek]

There are interesting geological processes at work in Siberia all the time. The Patomsky Crater is interesting. It's like a cold volcano that erupted solid rock. The nutcases are sure it was UFOs but there are also clear signs of a molten eruption on the site as well.