Consequences of the Tunguska catastrophe: dendrochronoindication inferences

Abstract

Reviewed are the results of the dendro-chronological analyses (DCA) relative to the Tunguska catastrophe. The main segments of the DCA research are presented. They reflect research on natural processes and phenomena in the annual rings of the trees in the Tunguska catastrophe area. The morphometric DCA was applied to identify the exact dates of tree death in the area of the “telegraph pole” forest in the epicentral zone of the Tunguska catastrophe. More than 91% of dead standing trees died in 1908. The morphometric DCA was used for the study of a particular type of burns in trees which perished as a result of the 1908 Tunguska catastrophe, as well as in trees that survived it and had accelerated growth after 1908. A conclusion is arrived at about the lack of correlation between the impact of the Tunguska meteor matter and this phenomenon is made. Outlined are the results of a thin structure analysis of the 1908 tree rings, and briefly the results of a biogeochemical DCA are presented, based on the atomic-abundance and neutron-activation analyses of the wood in the annual rings of trees that survived in the epicentral area of the Tunguska event. Also considered are results of the isotopic DCA based on the analysis of the radiocarbon content of the wood from 1898–1930 annual tree rings. In the conclusion it is underlined that there exist a vital necessity to create a data bank (and a storage place) of the tree samples from the epicentral area that would enable future recovery of information about the Tunguska event.