Lake Cheko
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| Lake Cheko | |
|---|---|
| Location | Tunguska River, Siberia |
| Coordinates | |
| Basin countries | Russia |
Lake Cheko is a small freshwater lake in Siberia, near the Tunguska River. Scientists have speculated that Lake Cheko was created during the Tunguska event, an explosion that occurred on 1908-06-30 and destroyed more than 2,000 km² (772 sq mi) of Siberian taiga.[1] A 1961 investigation estimated the age of the lake to be at least 5000 years, based on meters-thick silt deposits at the lake's bed.[2]
Newer research suggests that only a meter or so of the sediment pile on the lake's bed is "normal lacustrine sedimentation", a depth indicative of a much younger lake (~100 years). [3] Further evidence that the lake was formed by the Tunguska event come from acoustic-echo soundings of the lake floor. The soundings revealed a conical shape for the lake bed, which is consistent with recent impact craters. (Sediment buildup tends to flatten lake floors over time, eventually turning them into meadows.)[4] Magnetic readings indicate a possible meter-sized chunk of rock below the lake's deepest point, which may be a fragment of the colliding body.[4] Finally, the lake's long axis points to the epicenter of the Tunguska explosion, about 8 Km away.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Gasperini, L. et al (2001). "Geophysical/sedimentological study of a lake close to the epicenter of the great 1908 Siberian (Tunguska) Explosion". NGF Abstracts and Proceedings (1): 29–30.
- ^ Florenskiy, K. P. (1963). "Preliminary results from the 1961 combined Tunguska meteorite expedition". Meteoritica 23: 3–29.
- ^ Gasperini, L. et al (April 2008). "Reply - Lake Cheko and the Tunguska Event: impact or non-impact?". Terra Nova 20 (2): 169–172. doi:.
- ^ a b c Gasperini, L. et al (June 2008). "The Tunguska Mystery". Scientific American: 80–86.
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