- THE cause
of a massive explosion over central Siberia that has remained one of the
great mysteries of modern science, was a "volcanic blowout" of
ten million tonnes of natural gas, a noted German physicist has claimed.
-
- The eruption over the Tunguska plateau one summer morning
93 years ago has long been explained as the impact of the biggest meteorite
to hit Earth since prehistoric times. It scorched nearly 1,000 sq miles
of forest, incinerated entire colonies of reindeer and sent elderly men
200 miles away running for the bathhouse to be clean for their impending
deaths.
-
- For the past half-century the "Tunguska event"
has been explained as an incoming meteorite or comet exploding in the upper
atmosphere with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima bombs. However, it left no
cosmic debris or crater, forcing even experts to admit that its cause was
one of the great mysteries of modern science.
-
- That may be about to change: 17 factors, including the
patterns of tectonic faults and fallen trees in the area, suggest that
the explosion had nothing to do with outer space, but was caused by gas
forced upwards from the planet's molten core, Wolfgang Kundt, Professor
of Astrophysics at the University of Bonn, writes in August's issue of
the journal Current Science.
-
- The "outgassing" may also have created, in
a few earth-shaking minutes, a geological structure close to the surface
of the Earth known as a kimberlite after the legendery diamond reserves
found in the 19th century near the South African town of Kimberley, Professor
Kundt writes.
-
- "If they find that, as is indicated, it would turn
Siberia into a rich industrial country," he told The Times, dismissing
the comet and meteorite theories as pseudo-science. "If good physicists
had been involved from the start this problem would never have occurred,'
he said. "As it was (the early study of the Tunguska phenomenon) was
left to geophysicists and geologists with no knowledge of extraterrestial
bodies."
-
- The first outsider to visit Tunguska was neither a physicist
nor a geophysicist, but a goldsmith named Suzdalev, who arrived in 1910
and swore the locals to silence about what he found. They obeyed, and it
is unknown whether he left with a fortune in diamonds or nothing at all.
-
- The next expedition was in 1927, when Leonid Kulik, a
Russian geologist, observed a stunning radial pattern of thousands of trees
felled by the blast, their blackened trunks pointing to an epicentre in
the middle of a 250 million year-old volcanic crater at the junction of
seismic faultlines.
-
- Witness accounts from 1908, throughout the region were
plentiful, but contradictory. They spoke of fireballs, twin columns of
flame and trails of fire from several directions. There were also reports
of eerie lights in the night sky before and after June 30, strong enough
to read a newspaper by and visible as far away as Western Europe.
-
- Amateurs have explained these accounts with theories
about black holes, "anti- matter bullets" and, most popular of
all, an exploding spaceship that was the subject of a best-selling Soviet
book, Guest From Space.
-
- Two costly expeditions by the University of Bologna since
the Soviet collapse have focused on meteorites. They claim to have found
microscopic traces of space dust in spruce resin to support the view that
the blast was caused by a stony meteor 200ft wide approaching at a 45-degree
angle and exploding four miles above the Earth. However, such a meteorite
cannot account for 12 conical holes in the ground near the epicentre and
would have felled the trees in a parallel pattern, Professor Kundt insists.
-
- Andrei Olkhovatov, a Russian scientist who supports many
of his findings, says that a meteor 200ft across would have left at least
100,000 tonnes of debris along its approach path. "But the question
arises, where are the remnants?" he asked. "Nowhere, nothing
after decades of detailed research."
-
-
- Comment
-
- Blatant Disinformation
-
- From Susan Rotem
- susanrotem@dingoblue.net.au
- 7-24-1
Subject: TUNGUSKA
-
- Dear Jeff,
-
- I was surprised to read on your website today, the 'Times
of London' blatantly misleading article about Tunguska. This was another
excellent example of the Monopoly Press relentless attempts to confuse
the public. We are bombarded daily by confusing hypothesis's by "scientists"
who are no more than intellectual prostitutes for hire.
-
- Thousands of pages are available today on the Internet
about this spectacular event and eye witnesses accounts. No matter how
much "scientists" and "journalists" will try to distort
the facts, three observations made it perfectly clear that the Tunguska
event was an explosion of a UFO. Many of the witnesses to the original
crash spoke of seeing an oval-shaped mass moving across the sky, as well
as seeing the object change course, and of having a very low speed.
-
- All expeditions clearly observed that the way the trees
were felled in an outward motion and that in the centre an area of trees
were still standing, although all their bark and branches have been destroyed.
-
- After the Second World War and the bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, photos of the cities were compared with aerial photos of
the Tunguska blast, and they were stunning similar.
-
- As a result of this various scientists speculated that
a nuclear explosion had taken place over the area, hence explaining the
tree formation, and because no nation possessed nuclear device the logical
conclusion was that it was from an exploding alien nuclear powered craft.
-
- It is amusing to read in the Monopoly Press how "scientists"
will throw away all ethics, Facts, observations & eyewitness testimony,
just to avoid the UFO reality.
-
- Almost as bad as the TWA-800 fiasco.
-
- Respectfully,
-
- Susan Rotem
-
- P. S.
-
- The Times of London used to be a fun paper to read. For
the pleasure of your readers, I am enclosing three articles from the Times
of London related to the Tunguska event.
-
- The following letter appeared in "The Times"
(London) on Wednesday, July 01, 1908.
-
- "Curious Sun Effects At Night"
-
- "To the Editor of the Times."
-
- "Sir,--Struck with the unusual brightness of the
heavens, the band of golfers staying here strolled towards the links at
11 o'clock last evening in order that they might obtain an uninterrupted
view of the phenomenon. Looking northwards across the sea they found that
the sky had the appearance of a dying sunset of exquisite beauty. This
not only lasted but actually grew both in extent and intensity till 2:30
this morning, when driving clouds from the East obliterated the gorgeous
colouring. I myself was aroused from sleep at 1:15, and so strong was the
light at this hour that I could read a book by it in my chamber quite comfortably.
At 1:45 the whole sky, N. and N.-E., was a delicate salmon pink, and the
birds began their matutinal song. No doubt others will have noticed this
phenomenon, but as Brancaster holds an almost unique position in facing
north to the sea, we who are staying here had the best possible view of
it.
-
- Yours faithfully,
Holcombe Ingleby.
Dormy House Club, Brancaster, July 1" (1908)
-
-
-
- The following letter was published on the following
day, Thursday, July 2, 1908, in "The Times" (London):
-
- "The Aurora Borealis."
-
- The Aurora Borealis was very brilliant again last night.
In the higher points in the suburbs from which London can be seen the sight
was most unusual. All the outstanding features of the metropolis were silhouetted.
Many people were in the suburban roads viewing the sight."
-
- "TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES."
-
- "Sir,--I should be interested in hearing whether
others of your readers observed the strange light in the sky which was
seen here last night by my sister and myself. I do not know when it first
appeared; we saw it between 12 o'clock (midnight) and 12:15 a.m. It was
in the northeast and of a bright flame-colour like the light of sunrise
or sunset. The sky, for some distance above the light, which appeared to
be on the horizon, was blue as in the daytime, with bands of light cloud
of a pinkish colour floating across it at intervals. Only the brightest
stars could be seen in any part of the sky, though it was an almost cloudless
night. It was possible to read large print indoors, and the hands of the
clock in my room were quite distinct. An hour later, at about 1:30 a.m.,
the room was quite light, as if it had been day; the light in the sky was
then more dispersed and was a fainter yellow. The whole effect was that
of a night in Norway at about this time of year. I am in the habit of watching
the sky, and have noticed the amount of light indoors at different hours
of the night several times in the last fortnight. I have never at any time
seen anything the least like this in England, and it would be interesting
if any one would explain the cause of so unusual a sight.
-
- Yours faithfully, Katharine Stephen. Godmanchester, Huntingdon,
July 1."
- This article appeared in The Times (London) on Saturday,
July 4, 1908.
-
- "The Recent Nocturnal Glows"
-
- "The remarkable ruddy glows which have been seen
on many nights lately have attracted much attention, and have been seen
over an area extending as far as Berlin. There is considerable difference
of opinion as to their nature. Some hold that they are auroral; their colour
is quite consistent with this view, and there is also the fact that Professor
Fowler, of South Kensington, predicted auroral displays at this time from
his observations, which showed great disturbances in the sun's prominences.
These violent disturbances in the prominences were also described by Mr.
Newbegin at the meeting of the British Astronomical Association last Wednesday,
the latest disturbance noted being on the morning of that day. There was
a slight, but plainly marked disturbance of the magnets on Tuesday night,
and this materially strengthened the auroral theory, as the two phenomena
are very closely correlated. However, this was shaken on the following
night, when the glow was quite as strong, but the magnets were exceptionally
quiet. This convinced many, who had before been inclined to the auroral
theory, that the phenomenon was simply an abnormal twilight glow; this
is supported by the fact that nearly all the observers agree that the glow
was vertically above the position of the sun, and moved with it from north-west
to north-east during the night; a further argument is that the glow was
always near the horizon, whereas aurorae may be seen in any part of the
sky.
-
- It is well known that there is some twilight so long
as the sun's depression below the horizon does not exceed 18-deg.; in other
words, we have no real night in London when the sun is more that 20-deg.
North of the equator, or from May 23 to July 21. It is only necessary to
suppose that some temporary condition of the atmosphere made this twilight
much brighter and redder than usual.
-
- We may recall the circumstances of the wonderful glows
which were seen in this country in the autumn of 1883, and which were due
to the dust scattered in the upper atmosphere by the terrific outburst
at Krakatoa at the end of August. Those glows had many points in common
with the recent ones; (1) the deep, lurid colour, suggesting a distant
conflagration many were for some time doubtful whether Tuesday's glow was
not due to this cause) (sic); (2) both glows were seen at a much longer
interval after sunset than ordinary sunset glows, and the latter had already
faded before the abnormal glow began. This indicated an extraordinary height
for the dust causing the glow, and consequently the extreme fineness of
the latter; by charting the places and dates of first visibility of the
glows in 1883, it was found that the dust was carried westward by a previously
unknown upper current at a speed of 80 miles an hour; it did not reach
the British Isles till its third circuit of the globe, each circuit having
a wider range in latitude. We thus see that distance is no obstacle in
vast cosmical phenomena of this kind, which are absolutely world-embracing.
No volcanic outburst of abnormal violence has been reported lately; there
have, however, been some moderate outbursts in the Pacific during the spring,
and it is possible that the dust may have reached us from these, or from
some unreported eruption in some little-known region of the world."
-
-
- The curious meteorological effects may have been
the result of the mysterious explosion, which occurred over the Tunguska
Region of Russia, approximately 600 miles to the northwest of the northern
tip of Lake Baikal in Siberia, at 0717 hrs. (local time) on June 30, 1908.
If so, the effects, documented in the news articles, must have been visible
over Europe, many thousands of miles to the west of the epicenter of the
blast, within a very short period of time.
-
- Question 1: If the meteorological effects were, in fact,
caused by the explosion at Tunguska in the heart of Siberia, how could
the dust cloud generated by the explosion, and the one presumed by the
writers to have been the cause of the meteorological anomalies, have reached
Europe, apparently within hours, or perhaps even minutes?
-
- Question 2: Moreover, if the explosion was, in fact,
caused by a meteor or comet, is such an event consistent with the magnetic
anomaly that apparently was detected throughout Europe, and perhaps even
around the world?
-
- In addition, it is intriguing to consider whether the
magnetic anomaly occurred at the instant of the actual explosion, or whether
it occurred prior, during the possibly 1-2 minutes that the object that
exploded was seen by local herdsmen in the area prior to the actual blast.
-
-
- Hypotheses are STILL being proposed, and definitive solutions
are not yet available. The research goes on.
-
-
- Comment
-
- From Jerry Kirkegaard j
kirkegaard01@earthlink.net
7-25-1
-
- Hi Susan:
-
- Were you a personal wittiness to this event????????????
-
- Science ALL FIELDS from the old school have the dubious,
but well deserved dishonor of perpetuating bad science to continue this
dogma which has been shoved down our throats for thousands and thousands
of years.
-
- I have no personal opinion, but I do Keep a VERY OPEN
MIND.
-
- Regards
Jerry
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