At 7:17 am on June 30, 1908, an explosion like a detonating hydrogen bomb erupted in the forests of Siberia – and until now, scientists have supplied no conclusive explanation for the event.
Now Italian scientists claim to have found chunks of a meteorite which might have brought on the blast – from seismic and magnetic scans of close by Lake Cheko.
Lake Cheko, they claim is an influence crater for the blast – which devastated practically 1,000 square miles of forest and was detected hundreds of miles away.
The Tunguska event, or explosion, was an enormously effective explosion that occurred close to the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia – and was noticed as far away as Britain
Influence: Now Italian scientists claim to have discovered chunks of a meteorite which might have caused the blast – from seismic and magnetic scans of nearby Lake Cheko
‘This “Tunguska Event” is most likely relevant to the effect with the Earth of a cosmic entire body that exploded about three to six miles over ground, releasing in the atmosphere 10-15 megatons of energy,’ say the researchers.
Fragments of the impacting body have in no way been found, and its nature (comet or asteroid) is still a matter of debate.
‘We report here outcomes from a magnetic and seismic reflection study of a small lake, Lake Cheko, situated about 8 km NW of the inferred explosion epicenter, that was proposed to be an impact crater left by a fragment of the Tunguska Cosmic Physique,’ say the researchers, from the University of Bologna in a paper published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
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They claim to have detected a stony fragment in the lake that could be a remnant of the meteorite that brought on the explosion.
Seismic reflection and magnetic data exposed an anomaly close to the lake center, about 30ft under the lake floor this anomaly is compatible with the presence of a buried stony object and supports the effect crater origin for Lake Cheko.
Sources and more information:
• Cosmic forensics: signs of a Tunguska meteorite?
Wikimedia Commons “The split in the sky grew larger, and the entire northern side was covered with fire. At that moment I became so hot that I couldn’t bear it, as if my shirt was on fire… I wanted to tear off my shirt and throw it down, but then the sky shut closed, and a strong thump sounded, and I was thrown a few metres..