Lake Cheko
| Lake Cheko (Чеко) | |
|---|---|
| Location | near Podkamennaya Tunguska River, Siberia |
| Coordinates | 60°57′50″N 101°51′36″E / 60.964°N 101.86°ECoordinates: 60°57′50″N 101°51′36″E / 60.964°N 101.86°E |
| Basin countries | Russia |
Lake Cheko (Russian: Чеко) is a small freshwater lake in Siberia, near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River, in what is now the Evenkiysky District of the Krasnoyarsk Krai. It is a small bowl shaped lake, 708 m long, 364 m wide and about 50 m deep.
Scientists have speculated that Lake Cheko was created during the Tunguska event, an explosion on 30 June 1908 that destroyed more than 2,000 km2 (800 sq mi) of Siberian taiga. It is suggested that the lake, which lies approximately 8 kilometres north-north-west of the event hypocenter, was formed by a fragment which struck the ground. [1] A 1961 investigation estimated the age of the lake to be at least 5000 years, based on meters-thick silt deposits on the lake bed;[2] newer research suggests that only a meter or so of the sediment layer on the lake bed is "normal lacustrine sedimentation", indicating a much younger lake of about 100 years.[3]
Acoustic-echo soundings of the lake floor provide further support for the hypothesis, revealing a conical shape for the lake bed, which is consistent with an impact crater. Also, the lake's long axis points to the epicenter of the Tunguska explosion, about 7.0 km away.[4] Magnetic readings also indicate a possible meter-sized chunk of rock below the lake's deepest point, which may be a fragment of the colliding body.[4] However, researchers at Imperial College London, point out that many of the trees surrounding the lake are older than 100 years, which suggests that the lake could not have been created by an impact in 1908.[5]
Researchers from the University of Bologna investigated the lake bed in 2009.[6][7] Studies of sediments, isotopes and pollen, in their opinion, "suggest that Lake Cheko formed at the time of the Tunguska Event."
[edit] References
- ^ Gasperini, L. et al. (2001). "Geophysical/sedimentological study of a lake close to the epicenter of the great 1908 Siberian (Tunguska) Explosion". NGF Abstracts and Proceedings (1): 29–30. http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/GasperiniSvalbard.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
- ^ Florenskiy, K. P. (1963). "Preliminary results from the 1961 combined Tunguska meteorite expedition". Meteoritica 23: 3–29. http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/tungmet.html. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
- ^ Gasperini, L. et al.; Bonatti, Enrico; Longo, Giuseppe (April 2008). "Reply - Lake Cheko and the Tunguska Event: impact or non-impact?". Terra Nova 20 (2): 169–172. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3121.2008.00792.x. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-3121.2008.00792.x. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
- ^ a b Gasperini, L. et al. (June 2008). "The Tunguska Mystery". Scientific American: 80–86. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-tunguska-mystery. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ Rincon, Paul (2008-06-30). "Fire in the sky: Tunguska at 100". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7470283.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
- ^ Gasperini, Luca et. al. (2009). "Sediments from Lake Cheko (Siberia), a possible impact crater for the 1908 Tunguska Event". http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/terranova.html. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
- ^ Gasperini, Luca, et. al.; Bonatti, Enrico; Albertazzi, Sonia; Forlani, Luisa; Accorsi, Carla A.; Longo, Giuseppe; Ravaioli, Mariangela; Alvisi, Francesca et al (December, 2009). "Sediments from Lake Cheko (Siberia), a possible impact crater for the 1908 Tunguska Event". Terra Nova (Blackwell Publishing Ltd.) 21 (6): 489–494. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3121.2009.00906.x. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/122652721/PDFSTART. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
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