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Re: Killer Meteorites (animal deaths at Tunguska)

At 14:05 4-05-98 EDT, you wrote:

>I believe there were some reindeer and dogs killed in the Tunguska event
also?
>George Zay

O. Richard Norton's book "Rocks from Space" (2nd edition just out) has a
lengthy (pp. 89-100) discussion of the Tunguska event and the subsequent
investigations of the site.

Eyewitnesses reported at least three people being knocked unconscious by
the blast, and an unspecified number of reindeer and dogs killed. Some
excerpts:

---------------------------------------

S.B. Semenov reported:

"...there was a bang in the sky, and a mighty crash was heard. I was thrown
three sagenes [about 21 feet] away from the porch and for a moment I lost
consciousness."

The closest eyewitnesses were the Evenki people, inhabitants of the
northern part of the Krasnoyarsk district. They were camped near the mouth
of the Dilyushma River, several miles north of the Tunguska River and
Vanovara trading post. Akulina Potapovich told this story.

"Early in the morning when everyone was asleep in the tent it was blown up
into the air, together with the occupants. When they fell back to Earth,
the whole family suffered slight bruises but Akulina and Ivan actually lost
consciousness. When they regained consciousness they heard a great deal of
noise and saw the forest blazing around them and much of it devastated."

The Evenki nearest the explosion point told how the taiga (old growth
forest of pine, cedar, and deciduous trees) was flattened and burned and
some of their reindeer and dogs were killed by the explosion.

---------------------------------------

I ordered the Norton book last month from Amazon; it is a great read, very
instructive without getting too technical, and richly illustrated.

(And no, I don't have any relationship, personal or commercial, with the
author, publisher, or distributor...)

Piper Hollier
References: