The Mysterious Tunguska Event

On June 30, 1908, just after seven in the morning, an explosion took place near the Stony Tunguska River in Central Russia that became the largest impact with Earth in recorded history. The mysterious explosion became known as the Tunguska Event.

The explosion is believed to have been caused by a meteor, although no impact crater was ever found. It’s thought that the meteor exploded three to six miles (4.8 to 9.6 km) up in the air. Even without an impact crater, the devastation to the land was immense. About 800 square miles (1,287 sq km) of forest were flattened, which included 80 million trees. The force was so great that the trees were blown in a radial pattern on the ground, and their bark and limbs had been torn away.

An expedition to the area didn’t occur until 1921, but the harsh Siberian conditions didn’t allow the team to reach the blast site. It wasn’t until 1927, 19 years after the blast, that an expedition made it to ground zero of the blast site. They discovered something remarkable. While the trees were pointing away from the epicenter of the blast in a circular fashion, the trees at the epicenter were still standing upright. Amazingly, there was no evidence that anyone died in the explosion.