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| Figure 1: View close to the epicenter in 1927 | Figure 2: View close to the epicenter almost 90 years after the event | Figure 3: Map view showing trajectory, epicenter, and the butterfly pattern created from the aerial explosion |
The Tunguska event: will we ever really know the answer?
by Peter Schlater
Abstract
June 30, 1908 in a remote location over Central Siberia, in the region known as the Tunguska Basin, a large aerial explosion occurred releasing the equivalent of between 10 and 20 megatons of energy at an altitude of about 10km. The explosion resulted in the destruction of over 2,150 km² of heavy forest, the power of the blast felled trees outward in a radial direction creating what is known as the butterfly pattern (Fig.3). The size of the impactor has been estimated to have had a radius between 30-40km. The Tunguska impactor has been investigated since the late 1920’s. There are two main hypotheses that are being looked at for the cause of the Tunguska Event. The first hypothesis states that a small comet exploded over the area of Tunguska, which was the cause of the destruction. The second hypothesis states that it was the explosion of an asteroid/meteor, which was the cause of the destruction.
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| Figure 1: View close to the epicenter in 1927 | Figure 2: View close to the epicenter almost 90 years after the event | Figure 3: Map view showing trajectory, epicenter, and the butterfly pattern created from the aerial explosion |
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