Giant meteorite wrecked forest
2003-07-28 14:05
Moscow - A giant meteorite that struck the Irkutsk region of Siberia last September had the force of a nuclear bomb of medium power and devastated a huge area of taiga, Russian scientists reported on Friday.
A 10-strong expedition of scientists and doctors was unable to identify and reach the place where the meteorite landed until mid-May. It was finally located in the very remote, wooded semi-mountainous region of Bodaibo, northeast of Irkutsk and Lake Baikal.
"Over an area of 100 square kilometres trees were smashed in a pattern characteristic of very powerful blast effects," expedition leader Vadim Chernobrov told a news conference.
He said that the meteorite had disintegrated before hitting the ground and had left about 20 craters, up to 20 metres in diameter, with an explosion "equivalent to the power of an atomic bomb of medium size".
A video made by the expedition and shown to reporters showed shattered and sometimes burnt tree stumps, charred by the high temperatures released by the explosion.
Meteorites are large rocks that tumble through space and then get caught in the Earth's gravity, becoming red-hot with the heat of the atmosphere.
Unlike meteors, which burn up completely as they fall and are occasionally visible in the night sky as shooting stars, meteorites are rocks which are so big they make it all the way to the ground.
The brightest such phenomenon ever recorded during human history also happened over Siberia. In 1908 a meteorite hit the Tunguska region, devastating the forest over an area of some 2 000 square kilometres.
Many scientists also believe that in prehistoric times a massive meteorite that hit what is now Central America may have caused the disappearance of the dinosaurs.