Has The Tunguska Mystery Been Solved?

**1963** · 06-23-2012, 08:19 PM

(Phys.org) -- Early on the morning of June 30th, 1908, a huge explosion occurred in a remote part of Siberia near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. So great was the blast that trees were knocked down in neat rows for nearly a thousand square miles and the sky lit up from parts of Asia to Great Britain. What caused that explosion has never been firmly settled. Most researchers agree that it was the result of either a comet or meteoroid, with most leaning towards the former due to the lack of both an impact crater and meteoroid fragments. Now however, a research team from Italy says that they have found proof that it was in fact a meteorite that struck the Earth and that a nearby lake is the impact crater. They have published the results of their findings in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.

Research team claims to have found evidence Lake Cheko is impact crater for Tunguska Event

Hi All!

Just belatedly read this article about the latest theory on 'Tunguska Explosion Mystery', and wondered ...

A)...Do you believe that this will prove to be the definitive answer?

B)...If a meteorite struck the earth, creating an impact crater (now the lake as suggested in the article)...then why according to all the contemporary reports were there trees still standing at the epicentre, supposedly directly under an air-burst?

C)...How do the Italian scientists that are claiming that Lake Cheko is the result of a meteorite crater dismiss the contradictions in dating the lake?...

A 1961 investigation estimated the age of the lake to be at least 5000 years, based on meters-thick silt deposits on the lake bed;

however...

newer research suggests that only a meter or so of the sediment layer on the lake bed is "normal lacustrine sedimentation", indicating a much younger lake of about 100 years.

and...

Magnetic readings also indicate a possible meter-sized chunk of rock below the lake's deepest point, which may be a fragment of the colliding body.

and...

However, researchers at Imperial College London, point out that many of the trees surrounding the lake are older than 100 years, which suggests that the lake could not have been created by an impact in 1908.

Lake Cheko - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It will be interesting to see this story unfold!

But being the kind of person that I am... Whenever I hear or read the word 'Tunguska' , there is still a small part of me that is ready to accept that there may still yet be some truth to a far less conventional explanation to this 104 year old mystery...?

UFOTV: Tunguska - UFO Crash Explosion - YouTube!

Cheers.

**bart5050** · 06-23-2012, 08:34 PM

I think like many things there are no difinitive answers.
An extended well funded expedition might get more data for evaluation.

An air burst often leaves the objects directly below it upright.
The air is pushed straight down around them.
Equal forces on all sides.
Objects away from the center have the air pushed at them from the side, knocking them down away from the blast center.

The tree pattern definatly points at an air blast.
That does not answer what it was.

**1963** · 06-23-2012, 08:48 PM

Originally Posted by bart5050

I think like many things there are no difinitive answers.
An extended well funded expedition might get more data for evaluation.

An air burst often leaves the objects directly below it upright.
The air is pushed straight down around them.
Equal forces on all sides.
Objects away from the center have the air pushed at them from the side, knocking them down away from the blast center.

The tree pattern definatly points at an air blast.
That does not answer what it was.

Hi Bart!

Yes, I agree with all that you said, which is why I have my doubts about the meteorite crater seven km's away.
Surely the blast from that would have flattened the central trees too?

Also, I agree that there will always be mysteries that will remain mysteries!...after all, that is what people like us thrive on isn't it ?

Cheers buddy.

**bart5050** · 06-23-2012, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by 1963

Hi Bart!

Yes, I agree with all that you said, which is why I have my doubts about the meteorite crater seven km's away.
Surely the blast from that would have flattened the central trees too?

Also, I agree that there will always be mysteries that will remain mysteries!...after all, that is what people like us thrive on isn't it ?

Cheers buddy.

Perhaps the air burst did not destroy all of it and a big chunck of blast debris made the crater.
Perhaps the crater was from an asteroid that hit at a much earlier date.

Good questions to answer.

**1963** · 06-23-2012, 09:11 PM

[QUOTE=bart5050;9855240]Perhaps the air burst did not destroy all of it and a big chunck of blast debris made the crater.

Perhaps, but would'nt the blast from the chunk that was big enough ..and had the sufficient impact to create to create the lake, be sufficient to destroy the remaining trees?

Perhaps the crater was from an asteroid that hit at a much earlier date.

Perhaps, but then to claim the lake as the Tunguska Meteorite Crater as is in the article, would be a misnomer would'nt it?

...anyway, it's bedtime so goodnight my friend!

Cheers buddy.