Patomskiy crater

limestone blocks on the slopes of the Patom Highlands in an area of dense taiga

volcanic and gaseous origin, but to date no definite proof has been given. Through dendrochronology, the age of the crater is estimated to be 300 years old.^[3]

Irkutsk State Technical University, geochemists from the Institute of Geosphere Dynamics, RAS (Moscow), still believe that the crater may have a meteoric origin.^{[citation needed]} A study conducted by V. S. Antipin and A. M. Fedorov showed, through morphological, structural and chemical data, that the crater is volcanic in origin. The presence of weathered breccias, the diameter/height ratio typical of volcanic cones, the absence of geochemical anomalies linked to cosmogenic origins, and its zoning of different ages, contradict clearly the meteorite hypothesis.^[3] The origin of the cone is therefore volcanic, caused by a rapid outbreak of deep fluids (CO₂ and H₂O

Saint Petersburg Mining Institute held a scientific conference "Patom Crater 2010". Viktor Sergeyevich Antipin, head of a department at the St. Petersburg Institute of Geochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IG SB RAS), stated that "Since the 2006 expedition by the Institute of Geochemistry (IGC), RAS came to the conclusion that the Patomskiy crater probably originates from geological processes. An important fact is that no serious argument or evidence of a meteorite crater nature referred to by specialists had been given. There was not any new evidence to support the meteorite hypothesis."^{[citation needed]} Antipin further noted that at the conference, for the first time, all the experts rejected the meteoric hypothesis. "Now it has only historical interest," he added.^{[citation needed}