The descent of pieces of the Tunguska cosmic body

Olga G. Gladysheva

Astrophysical Department of Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of RAS, St.Petersburg, Russia.

DOI: 10.4236/ns.2013.55071                

Abstract

There is a hypothesis that fragments of a body from outer space fell to Earth as a result of the Tunguska event. During decades of investigations at the site of the disaster, stone or iron pieces from a cosmic body were not found. In spite of this, the number of adherents of this hypothesis is growing. For one thing, it was determined that the formation of swamp craters at the epicentre of the disaster is contempory with the Tunguska event. Secondly, it was proven that the swamp craters are the result of thermokarst processes: their formation is connected with heat exchange in a permafrost zone. Now we can affirm that fragments of the Tunguska cosmic body (as a comet) with a mass of 10^-3 ≤ M ≤ 10 kg reached the Earth’s surface, but they did not form craters. This conclusion was made from the isotopes and composition of element in peat deposits as determined by Kolesnikov’s group and L’vov.

Keywords

Tunguska Cosmic Body; Craters;Organic Component

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Kulik, L.A. (1927) To the question about a place of the Tunguska meteorite fall. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR, 399-402.
[2]	Kulik, L.A. (1933) To 25-anniversary of the Tunguska meteorite. Mirovedenie, 2, 63-66.
[3]	Kulik, L.A. (1939) Data about the Tunguska meteorite to 1939. DAS SSSR, 22, 520-524.
[4]	Florensky, K.P. (1955) Some impressions about modern state of the region of fall of the Tunguska meteorite 1908. Meteoritika, 12, 62-71.
[5]	Florensky, K.P. (1963) Preliminary result of the Tunguska meteorite complex expedition. Meteoritika, 23, 3-29.
[6]	Kuvshinnikov, V.M. and Kolobkova, G.P. (1963) To the questions about a falling mass of the Tunguska meteorite at the Lakura mountain ridge’s region. In: Plekhanov, G.F. Ed., The Problem of the Tunguska Meteorite, Izdat Tomsk University, Tomsk, 159-162.
[7]	Alekseev, V.A., Alekseeva, N.G. and Kopeikin, V.V. (2011) Results of georadar and hydrogen studies of Tunguska meteorite impact crater in 2009-2010. Atmospheric and Oceanic Optics Journal, 24, 1105-1107.
[8]	Shumilova, L.V. (1963) Sketch about the environment at the region of fall of the Tunguska meteorite. In: Plekhanov, G.F., Ed., The Problem of the Tunguska Meteorite, Izdat Tomsk University, Tomsk, 22-33.
[9]	L’vov, Y.A., Lagutskaya, L.I., Ivanova, G.M., et al. (1963) Swamps at the region of the fall of the Tunguska meteorite. In: Plekhanov, G.F., Ed., The Problem of the Tunguska Meteorite, Izdat Tomsk University, Tomsk, 34-47.
[10]	L’vov, Y.A. and Ivanova, G.M. (1963) Reduced (thermokarst) depression of large bumpy peat bog at the region of fall of the Tunguska meteorite. In: Plekhanov, G.F., Ed., The Problem of the Tunguska Meteorite, Izdat Tomsk University, Tomsk, 48-58.
[11]	Kovalevsky, A.F., Fast, V.G., Ikonnikova, G.M. and Nekrasova, L.N. (1963) Magnetic investigations at the region of fall of the Tunguska meteorite. In: Plekhanov, G.F., Ed., The Problem of the Tunguska Meteorite, Izdat Tomsk University, Tomsk, 113-123.
[12]	Krinov, E.L. (1949) The Tunguska meteorite. Izddat.
[13]	L’vov, Y.A. (1984) Carbon in the structure of the Tunguska meteorite. In: Dolgov, Y.A., Ed., Meteorite Investigations in Siberia (Tunguska Phenomena Is 75 years), Nauka, Novosibirsk, 83-87.
[14]	L’vov, Y.A. (1967) About presence of extraterrestrial substance in peat. In: Tronov, M.V., Ed., The Problem of the Tunguska Meteorite 2, Izdat Tomsk University, Tomsk, 140-144.
[15]	Kolesnikov, E.M. (1982) Isotope H and C anomalies in peat at the place of fall the Tunguska meteorite. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR, 266, 993-995.
[16]	Kolesnikov, E.M., Boettger, T. and Kolesnokova, N.V. (1999) Finding of probable Tunguska Cosmic Body material: Isotopic anomalies of carbon and hydrogen in peat. Planetary and Space Science, 47, 905-916. doi:10.1016/S0032-0633(99)00006-9
[17]	Rasmussen, K.L., Olsen, H.J.F., Gwozdz, R. and Kolesnikov, E.M. (1999) Evidence for a very high carbon/iridium-ratio in the Tunguska impactor. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 34, 891-895. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.1999.tb01407.x
[18]	Hou, Q.L., Kolesnikov, E.M., Xie, L.W., et al. (2000) Discovery of probable Tunguska cosmic body material: Anomalies of platinum group elements and rare-earth elements in peat near the explosion site (1908). Planetary and Space Science, 48, 1447-1455. doi:10.1016/S0032-0633(00)00089-1
[19]	Kolesnikov, E.M., Hou, Q.L., Xie, L.W. and Kolesnikova, N.V. (2005) Finding of probable Tunguska cosmic body material: Anomalies in platinum group elements in peat from the explosion area. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 24, 101-111. doi:10.1080/10556790500085678
[20]	Kolesnikov, E.M., Kolesnikova, N.V. and Boettger, T. (1998) Isotopic anomaly in peat nitrogen is a probable trace of acid rains caused by 1908 Tunguska bolide. Planetary and Space Science, 46, 163-167. doi:10.1016/S0032-0633(97)00190-6