Abstract
THE Tunguska event of 1908, which has been described in detail by Krinov1, is generally accepted as having been caused by a detonating bolide. Zotkin and Tsikulin2 concluded, on the basis of laboratory experimentation, that the event could best be fitted by a travelling wave striking the forest at an angle of 30° to the horizon, culminating in a detonation at a height roughly eight times that of the forest canopy. The pattern of tree blowdown consisted of a radially symmetric zone 35 km in diameter, on which was superimposed a bi-lobed pattern caused by the travelling wave. Stanyukovich and Bronshten3 quote a total energy of 1023 erg for the event. In August 1966 an experiment was carried out in a mixed forest of Pine, Spruce and Fir near Hinton, Alberta, Canada, which has some features in common with the Tunguska event. In the experiment a hemispherical stack of TNT, 100,000 lb (50 short tons) in weight, was detonated on the forest floor. The resulting pattern of tree blowdown is shown in Fig. 1.
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References
Krinov, E. L. Giant Meteorites (Pergamon, Oxford, 1966).
Zotkin, I. T. & Tsikulin, M. A. Dok. Akad. Nauk S.S.S.R., 167, 59–62 (1966).
Stanyukovich, K. P. & Bronshten, V. A. Dok. Akad. Nauk S.S.S.R., 140, 583–586 (1961).
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JONES, G. High explosive analogue of the Tunguska event. Nature 267, 605 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/267605a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/267605a0
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High explosive analogue of the Tunguska Event
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