[meteorite-list] FW: The Vitim event and more

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:16:33 2004
Message-ID: <200308130536.WAA19437_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

>
> Serg from the Comet Meteorite Shop told me the same thing about Vitim at the
> Springfield show. He said that travel to the area was long and
> difficult...and that more money would be needed to do a serious investigation
> of the site. He did say they had soil to evaluate, and that the
> impact/explosion(?) damage to the area was significant.

So, the initial reports of finding meteorite fragments at the site
were totally off the mark?

It seems to me people had unreasonable high expectations.
The 'damage' to the area is sounding
more and more like a normal forest fire than an impact site. That's not
to say meteorites didn't fall, but that this is not looking like
another Tunguska event.
 
> This might have been a smaller scale Tunguska-like event? Much more work on
> the site it is needed for sure.

The main evidence against it being a Tunguska-like event is the DOD
satellite measurements. They indicate that this was more on
a scale of a Tagish Lake event, which incidently did not knock down any
trees. They should be looking for meteorites, and not be led off course
by burnt trees.

Ron Baalke
Received on Wed 13 Aug 2003 01:36:01 AM PDT