Paleomagnetic study of the Tunguska catastrophe epicenter

Abstract

The Tunguska catastrophe occurred in the area of the East Siberian magnetic anomaly on June 30, 1908. The epicenter of the explosive destruction of the Tunguska cosmic body (TCB) was above the central neck of a paleovolcano (Mt. Stoikovich). According to the paleomagnetic data available, the bedrocks on the top of Mt. Stoikovich carry remanent magnetization, which is substantially higher than that in rocks from neighboring mountains. Analysis of the results of paleomagnetic measurements of rock samples collected in the vicinity of the Tunguska catastrophe epicenter showed that the destruction of the cosmic body was accompanied by the formation of multidirectional magnetic fields, which provide disturbances spreading over a distance of 25 km from the epicenter. The chaotic distribution pattern of magnetization vectors measured in the soil in the vicinity of the Tunguska catastrophe epicenter confirms the previously expressed assumption that destruction of the TCB was accompanied with multiple discharges. According to this, we can conclude that the matter of the Tunguska cosmic body was dispersed around the epicenter in a zone approximately 25 km in diameter.