Posted Jun 27, 2007 at 10:09AM by Ryan A. Listed in: Geology Tags: Italy, Tunguska Explosion
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Tunguska Event of 1908 - Image 1The Tunguska Explosion of 1908 still remains a mystery until today. Basically, a massive explosion took place above the remote Russian forests of Tunguska, Siberia back in the said year that flattened a staggering 800 square miles of land.

Scientists would normally credit this to a meteor but the thing is, no fragments of such or even craters have been discovered yet. However, one study that began almost 10 years ago now infers that the missing crater can be found underneath Lake Cheko.

The said lake is 164-foot deep and is located five miles northwest of the epicenter of the explosion. University of Bologna (in Italy) physicist and co-author of the study Giuseppe Longo explained,

When we looked at the bottom of the lake, we measured seismic waves reflecting off of something. Nobody has found this before. We can only explain that and the shape of the lake as a low-velocity impact crater. Expeditions in the 1960s concluded the lake was not an impact crater, but their technologies were limited.


The team of Longo was able to extract fresh mud-like sediment on top of "chaotic deposits" after going to the bottom of Lake Cheko and taking 6-foot core samples. Despite this interesting development, Longo mentioned that their study is far from being over because the samples taken were still inconclusive.

The physicist mentioned that what they need to prove that Lake Cheko is indeed the missing crater is a similar core sample taken 10 meters or 33 feet into the bottom of the lake. If they are lucky, Longo is expecting to find the remains of the meteor which size is currently being speculated at 1,700 tons and more than 30 feet in diameter.

"This is important work because we can make better conclusions about how cosmic bodies impact the Earth, and what they're made of. And it could help us find ways to protect our planet from future impacts of this kind," Longo added. His team is planning to continue the investigation this coming summer.


[Via LiveScience] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

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