New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tunguska event

The Tunguska event was an explosion that occurred at 60 degrees 55'N 101degrees 57'E, near the Podkamennaya (Under Rock) Tunguska River, in what is now Evenk Autonomous Okrug, at 7:17 AM on June 30, 1908. The event is sometimes referred to as the great Siberian explosion.

The explosion was probably caused by the airburst of an asteroid or comet 5 to 10 kilometers (3-6 mi) above the Earth's surface. The energy of the blast was later estimated to be between 10 and 20 megatons of TNT. It felled an estimated 60 million trees over 2,150 square kilometers (830 sq mi). An overhead satellite view centered at 60.917N 101.95E (near ground zero for this event) shows an area of reduced forest density, with a fully visible irregular clearing of somewhat less one square kilometer in area.

Related Stories
 


Earth & Climate News

March 25, 2026

People often get the environmental impact of food wrong, according to new research. While many assume processed foods are the worst, they tend to overlook the surprisingly high impact of items like nuts and underestimate how damaging beef really is. ...
Tiny plastic particles aren’t just choking oceans and cities—they’re quietly infiltrating forests too. Scientists discovered that most microplastics arrive through the air, settling onto treetops before being washed or dropped to the forest ...
Beavers may be unlikely climate heroes, but new research suggests they could play a powerful role in fighting climate change. By building dams and transforming streams into wetlands, these industrious animals dramatically reshape how carbon moves ...
A hidden freshwater system deep beneath the Great Salt Lake has been revealed using airborne electromagnetic surveys. Scientists found that freshwater extends much farther under the lake than expected, reaching depths of up to 4 kilometers. The ...
Antibiotics are accumulating in a major Brazilian river, especially during the dry season when pollution becomes more concentrated. Scientists even detected a banned drug inside fish sold for food, raising concerns about human exposure. A common ...
A mysterious spike of platinum buried deep in Greenland’s ice has long fueled theories of a catastrophic comet or asteroid strike 12,800 years ago—possibly triggering a sudden return to icy conditions known as the Younger Dryas. But new research ...
Tropical peatlands, some of the planet’s largest underground carbon stores, are now burning at levels never seen in at least 2,000 years. By analyzing charcoal preserved in peat across multiple continents, scientists discovered that fires had ...
Pink granite boulders sitting mysteriously atop Antarctica’s Hudson Mountains have led scientists to a stunning discovery: a hidden granite mass buried beneath Pine Island Glacier, stretching nearly 100 km wide and 7 km thick. By dating the rocks ...
AI’s growing energy use sounds alarming, but its global climate impact may be far smaller than expected. Researchers found that while AI consumes huge amounts of electricity, it barely moves the needle on overall emissions. The real impact is more ...
The asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs didn’t keep life down for long. New research shows that microscopic plankton began evolving into new species within just a few thousand years—and possibly in under 2,000 years—after the ...
Spiders and insects may not be fan favorites, but they are vital to the health of ecosystems—and scientists barely know how they’re doing. Researchers found that nearly 90% of North America’s insect and arachnid species have no conservation ...
Researchers have uncovered a universal pattern showing how temperature affects life on Earth. Across thousands of species—from microbes to reptiles—performance rises gradually with warming until an optimal temperature is reached, after which it ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:56 pm ET