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The origin of L ake C heko and the 1908 T unguska E vent recorded by forest trees
Author(s) -
Gasperini Luca,
Stanghellini Carlo,
Serra Romano
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1111/ter.12118
Subject(s) - epicenter , geology , impact crater , reflection (computer programming) , test site , shore , seismology , astrobiology , biology , oceanography , computer science , programming language
Several lines of evidence indicate that C heko, a small lake close to the epicentre of the 1908 T unguska E vent ( TE ), fills a crater left behind by a fragment of the T unguska C osmic B ody that impacted the ground downrange of the main explosion. It is thought that over 80 million trees were flattened or burnt as a consequence of the TE . However, a small number of trees in the devastated area survived the explosion and recorded in their growth‐ring patterns the environmental changes that followed this event. Some of those trees were found around L ake C heko, ~10 km NW of the inferred TE epicentre. We analysed new data from the floor of L ake C heko, including seismic‐reflection profiles, side‐scan sonar and video images, as well as dendrochronological evidence in tree samples collected along the shores, to test the hypothesis of a 1908 formation of the lake.