The Unsolved Tunguska Event

Stock Image of a Burning Forest

The Tunguska Event

This strange phenomenon, known as "The Tunguska Event," is one of the greatest mysteries of all time if judged on the scale of the event. The Tunguska Event was a large explosion that occurred near the Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia which was at the time, a part of Siberia known as Podkamennaya Tunguska River. The explosion took place in the early hours of 30th June 1908 and reports suggest that the initial sight was a fireball that would have been 50-100m wide. It depleted 2,000 sq km of the Taiga forest in the area, flattening a whopping 80 million trees. The shock wave from the explosion has been estimated to have been about a 5.0 on the Richter scale which would have been capable of destroying a large metropolitan area. This event has been classified by most scientists to have been an asteroid impact and also the largest "impact event" (collision between 2 astronomical objects causing an impact) in recorded history.

Although this event was so massive, due to the high level of isolation of the area, there was no real scientific exploration of the incident until the 1920s when a team led by Russian mineralogist Leonid Kulik started their expedition. This along with a few expeditions following it all led to the conclusion that it was most likely caused by an asteroid or comet but while a large portion of evidence did back this claim there was one thing missing, a crater. This was discovered during an expedition in which local Evenki hunters were hired to reach the midpoint of the explosion area, where the team expected to find an impact crater. To their astonishment, there was no sign of anything even resembling a crater at ground zero. Upon further searching, an area was found nearby wherein trees in an area of about 50 square km were totally burned and devoid of branches, but somehow still upright. Trees further away from this area were partly scorched and knocked down facing away from the centre causing a large circular formation of downed trees to form. If a normal asteroid hit an impact crater must be existent and this lack of ever finding a proper impact crater is the only reason that this event remains an active mystery to date.

Theories

1. Asteroid Theory

This is by far the most prominent and believed theory by most people involved in this mystery. This theory explains many things ranging from the sudden unexplainable explosion as well as the massive power produced by it. The overall explosion and sound have been explained by an airburst caused by an asteroid approximately 6–10 km above the Earth's surface. The asteroid itself is believed to have been about 1/3rd the length of a football field due to the impact area and destruction caused. A chemical analysis of some small silicate spheres discovered in the area found that they contained high quantities of nickel relative to iron, which is found in meteorites furthering this theory. This theory does seem perfect but the lack of a crater being found is quite a large doubt in its legitimacy. An asteroid so large causing an impact of such scale would be sure to leave a large crater but as stated above, after many expeditions, no signs of a crater were found. 

2. Extraterrestrial Theory

This theory actually doesn't seem as far fetched (still kinda far fetched) here as it does in most mysteries due to the scale of destruction. Theorists claim that a UFO or some sort of extraterrestrial equipment/weapon was used to create the explosion in the forest. This theory would explain the explosion as well as other factors related to it such as there being no crater. The only real problem with this theory is that it is still quite hard to believe and seems like an easy explanation to explain unexplainable things. There is also no real evidence of a UFO being in the area and in the 100 plus years since the event, there have been no repeats of anything like it at such a scale.

3. Geophysical Theory

Although this theory for the Tunguska explosion is much less popular it still provides a scientific basis for the event. An Astrophysicist named Wolfgang Kundt has claimed that the Tunguska event was possibly caused due to a sudden escaping of a large amount of natural gas from within the Earth's crust. According to his theory, 10 million tons of natural gas must have escaped and reacted with a source of ignition to create an explosion of that magnitude. The basic concept is that the released natural gas rose to a certain height in the atmosphere according to it's as well as the atmosphere's density. Following this, due to natural reasons such as wind, a portion of the gas must've been shifted to another area and subsequently been ignited by something such as a lightning strike. The ignited natural gas then followed to the source causing the mass of it to ignite and thus creating the Tunguska explosion. The only thing against this theory is that this phenomenon would be highly unlikely and the amount of natural gas required for such an explosion is very high.

Conclusion

Looking at the theories, in my personal opinion, I'm torn between believing the asteroid and the geophysical theory but am more towards the latter. While the extraterrestrial theory doesn't have any real scientific basis both these theories are possible and can be easily explained by science. While the asteroid theory seems to perfectly fit everything, the lack of a crater really reduces its legitimacy, in my opinion, causing me to shift more towards the geophysical theory. Even though such a phenomenon of natural gas may be very rare, if it is true this theory would be a perfect explanation for all aspects of this theory and leave no room for doubt. Whatever the truth is, this theory is quite scary as we are lucky this area wasn't highly populated and hopefully something like this won't happen again.

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