Likely Impact Sites of Large Fragments
of the Tunguska Cosmic Body
V. тФА. Alekseev1, N. G. Alekseeva1, I. G. Golovnev2,
S. Yu. Zheltov2, A. I. Morgachev2, E. Ya. Fal'kov2
1Troitsk Institute for Innovation and Fusion Research, Troitsk, Russia
2
2State Research Institute of Aviation Systems, Moscow, Russia
Abstract:
Based on the large-scale stereo aerial survey of the Tunguska catastrophe region and application of three-dimensional models, we determined the possible impact sites of Tunguska cosmic body (TCB) fragments. Some of these sites were earlier determined by L. тФА. Kulik.
Kulik schematized the tree fall around the Cranberry Hole and at the Southern Bog in order to elucidate the possible location of meteorite fragments. We cut a channel in the Suslov Hole, and drained water from it [1]. A stub was found at the crater bottom. Ice of unknown (possibly cometary) origin was also discovered. Comparing the stub photographs from the Suslov hole with the photographs of a stub from the Sikhote Alin holes, we can assume that trees were possibly broken in a similar manner when large meteorite fragments fell [2].
Then we drilled three boreholes at the bottom, the first one on the northern slope since Kulik considered that the meteorite flew from south to north and could get deep into the hole on the northern slope. This borehole penetrated a 25-m-thick permafrost layer and 6-m aquifer below the permafrost. The second borehole was drilled at the hole center to a depth of 20 m. The third borehole was drilled on the southern slope.
Kulik schematized tree fall on the Southern Bog and around the Cranberry Hole and selected the centers where TCB fragments might be located. However, he did not find any Tunguska meteorite fragments in the Suslov Hole. We consider that it is necessary to verify the Kulik proposal and to perform at first georadar investigations in the Suslov and Cranberry holes and then drill in the craters to find possible meteorite fragments.
Key words:
Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Near Earth Objects (NEOs), Tunguska cosmic body (TCB),Tunguska catastrophe region, three-dimensional models, possible impact sites of TCB fragments, Cranberry Hole, Southern Bog, possible location of meteorite fragments, Suslov Hole, a stub at the crater bottom, ice of unknown (possibly cometary) origin, the Sikhote Alin holes, boreholes, the Kulik proposal.