A possible impact crater for the 1908 Tunguska Event

doi:10.1111/j.1365-3121.2007.00742.x

If you are seeing this message, you may be experiencing temporary network problems. Please wait a few minutes and refresh the page. If the problem persists, you may wish to report it to your local Network Manager.

It is also possible that your web browser is not configured or not able to display style sheets. In this case, although the visual presentation will be degraded, the site should continue to be functional. We recommend using the latest version of Microsoft or Mozilla web browser to help minimise these problems.

Wiley InterScience

Terra Nova

Volume 19 Issue 4, Pages 245 - 251

Published Online: 15 Jun 2007

< Previous Abstract | Next Abstract >

Save Article to My Profile Download Citation Request Permissions

Abstract | References | Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 1474K) | Related Articles | Citation Tracking

A possible impact crater for the 1908 Tunguska Event

L. Gasperini ¹ , F. Alvisi ¹ , G. Biasini ² , E. Bonatti ¹ , G. Longo ³ , M. Pipan ⁴ , M. Ravaioli ¹ and R. Serra ³

¹ ISMAR-CNR, Sezione di Geologia Marina, Bologna, Italy ; ² Communication Technology, Cesena, Italy ; ³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita' di Bologna ; ⁴ Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita' di Trieste

Correspondence to Luca Gasperini, Geologia Marina, Istituto di Scienze Marine, CNR, Via Gobetti 101, Bologna 40129, Italy.
Tel.: +39 051 639 8901; fax: +39 051 639 8901; e-mail: luca.gasperini@ismar.cnr.it Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation.

Terra Nova, 00, 1–7, 2007

Abstract

The so-called 'Tunguska Event' refers to a major explosion that occurred on 30 June 1908 in the Tunguska region of Siberia, causing the destruction of over 2000 km² of taiga, globally detected pressure and seismic waves, and bright luminescence in the night skies of Europe and Central Asia, combined with other unusual phenomena. The 'Tunguska Event' may be related to the impact with the Earth of a cosmic body that exploded about 5–10 km above ground, releasing in the atmosphere 10–15 Mton of energy. Fragments of the impacting body have never been found, and its nature (comet or asteroid) is still a matter of debate. We report results from the investigation of Lake Cheko, located ∼8 km NNW of the inferred explosion epicenter. Its funnel-like bottom morphology and the structure of its sedimentary deposits, revealed by acoustic imagery and direct sampling, all suggest that the lake fills an impact crater. Lake Cheko may have formed due to a secondary impact onto alluvial swampy ground; the size and shape of the crater may have been affected by the nature of the ground and by impact-related melting and degassing of a permafrost layer.

Received 6 November 2006; revised version accepted 30 April 2007

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1365-3121.2007.00742.x About DOI