Elsevier

Planetary and Space Science

Volume 42, Issue 2, February 1994, Pages 163-177
Planetary and Space Science

Search for microremnants of the Tunguska Cosmic Body

https://doi.org/10.1016/0032-0633(94)90028-0Get rights and content

Abstract

A new method is used here to obtain experimental data on the nature and composition of the Tunguska Cosmic Body. The leading hypothesis of the method is that in the forest conifers which have survived the Tunguska catastrophe, the fluid resin present at the moment of the event could have acted as a trap for airborne particles, as happens in amber. The growth rings of trees can give information on the age of the resin and therefore on the time when the particulate was trapped in it. With a scanning electron microscope, a total of 7163 particles were found in resin samples from Tunguska branches and from two control trees. The time distributions of the particles in the years 1885–1930 show clear abundance peaks centred on 1908. This makes it possible to conclude that the presence of Fe, Ca, Al, Si, Au, Cu, S, Zn, Cr, Ba, Ti, Ni, C and O in the particles observed is related to the Tunguska event and that these elements are probable constituents of the Tunguska Cosmic Body. This result is compatible with recent calculations showing that the Tunguska body can be a normal density meteorite.

References (56)

  • A.P. Bojarkina et al.

    K otsenke kosmogonnogo pritoka tjazhelych metallov na poverchnost' zemli

  • C. Boutron

    Respective influence of global pollution and volcanic eruptions on the past variations of the trace metals content of Antarctic Snows since 1880s

    J. geophys. Res.

    (1980)
  • J.P. Bradley et al.

    Interplanetary dust particles

  • S. Cecchini et al.

    Identikit di un'esplosione

    Sapere

    (1992)
  • C.F. Chyba et al.

    The 1908 Tunguska explosion: atmospheric disruption of a stony asteroid

    Nature, Lond.

    (1993)
  • C. Cowan et al.

    Possible anti-matter content of the Tunguska meteor of 1908

    Nature, Lond.

    (1965)
  • Ju.M. Emeljanov

    Radiofotograficheskoje issledovanie srezov derevjev iz rajona padenija Tungusskogo meteorita

  • V.G. Fast

    Statisticheskij analiz parametrov Tungusskogo vyvala

  • K.P. Florenskij et al.

    Khimicheskij sostav kosmicheskikh sharikov iz rajona Tungusskoj katastrofy i nekotorye voprosy differentsjatsii veshchestva kosmicheskikh tel

    Geokhimija

    (1968)
  • M. Galli et al.

    La spedizione al luogo della “catastrofe di Tunguska”

    Il Nuovo Saggiatore

    (1993)
  • S.P. Golenetskij et al.

    Priznaki kosmokhimicheskoj anomalii v rajone Tungusskoj katastrofy 1908 g

    Geokhimija

    (1977)
  • S.P. Golenetskij et al.

    K voprosu o khimicheskom sostave i prirode Tungusskogo kosmicheskogo tela

    Astronomicheskij Vestnik

    (1977)
  • S.S. Grigoryan

    K voprosu o prirode Tungusskogo meteorita

    Doklady Akad. Nauk SSSR

    (1976)
  • S.S. Grigoryan

    Motion and destruction of meteorites in planetary atmospheres

    Cosmic. Res.

    (1979)
  • J.G. Hills et al.

    The fragmentation of small asteroids in the atmosphere

    Astron. J.

    (1993)
  • D.V. Hoyt et al.

    Atmospheric transmission at Davos, Switzerland 1909–1979

    Climatic Change

    (1983)
  • J.N. Hunt et al.

    Atmospheric waves caused by large explosions

    Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond.

    (1960)
  • L.P. Iljina et al.

    Rezultaty spektral'nogo analiza prob pochvy iz rajona padenija Tungusskogo meteorita

  • Cited by (42)

    • New evidence of meteoritic origin of the Tunguska cosmic body

      2013, Planetary and Space Science
      Citation Excerpt :

      The blast was estimated to be equivalent to 3–5 megatons of trinitrotoluene (e.g. Boslough and Crawford, 2008), and it burned and flattened taiga forests over an area >2000 km2. The origin of the Tunguska blast was explained by a huge meteorite impact (e.g. Yavnel, 1957; Florensky, 1963; Longo et al., 1994; Serra et al., 1994; Longo, 2007; Gasperini et al., 2007, 2009; Badyukov et al., 2011) or by a comet (e.g. Florensky et al., 1968a, 1968b; Golenetsky et al., 1977; Ganapathy, 1983; Zbik, 1984; Nazarov et al., 1990; Hou et al., 1998; Kolesnikov et al., 1999, 2003, 2005; Rasmussen et al., 1999; Gladysheva, 2007), or by a cosmic body. However, no clear differences between comet and meteorite impacts were established (Dolgov et al., 1973; Nazarov et al., 1983; Hou et al., 2000, 2004; Kolesnikov et al., 2005).

    • Wildfire and abrupt ecosystem disruption on California's Northern Channel Islands at the Ållerød-Younger Dryas boundary (13.0-12.9 ka)

      2008, Quaternary Science Reviews
      Citation Excerpt :

      Magnetic microspherules are concentrated at the base of the best dated of these distinctive black layers at Murray Springs, AZ (Haynes, 2008) and in association with an assemblage of numerous other exotic materials identified in many other terminal Clovis-age deposits (Firestone et al., 2007). Many of these exotic materials are found in sediments associated with documented extraterrestrial impact events (e.g., Cretaceous–Tertiary [K/T] boundary [Köeberl, 2007]; Tunguska [Longo et al., 1994]). Although much remains to be learned about this boundary layer, the co-occurrence of these exotic materials forms the basis of the Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB) cosmic impact hypothesis (Firestone et al., 2007).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text