paper About Tunguska Event Impactor

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 23 13:34:50 EDT 2004

In the March (2004) issue of Planetary and Space
Science, there is a paper discussing the identity
of the impactor, which produced the Tunguska Event,
that might be of interest to some list members.
The paper is:

Q. L. Hou , E. M. Kolesnikov , L. W. Xie , N. V.
Kolesnikova , M. F. Zhou and M. Sun, 2004,
Platinum group element abundances in a peat layer
associated with the Tunguska event, further
evidence for a cosmic origin. Planetary and
Space Science. vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 331-340
doi:10.1016/j.pss.2003.08.002

Based upon "excess" Pd, Rh, Ru, REE, Co, Sr, and Y
found in a peat column from the Northern peat bog
of the 1908 Tunguska explosion site, they concluded
that the impactor, which created the Tunguska event
was "more likely a comet", although the possibility
that the impactor might have alternatively been a
carbonaceous asteroid. They estimated that the
mass of either the comet or carbonaceous asteroid
was as large as 103-106 tons.

I am only reporting what this paper stated. I don't
know enough about the pro and cons of the various
arguments about the Tunguska event to evaluate
their conclusions in any intelligent manner. If
anybody needs more information, he or she can
find contact information for the authors by
clicking the link, "Volume 52, Issue 4, pp. 259-340
(March 2004)" at:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00320633

and following the article link to the abstract.

(Besides my library doesn't subscribe to Planetary
and Space Science. Thus, I only have access to the
article's abstract.)

Yours,

Paul