Korotkov, P. F.; Kozin, V. N., The Tunguska Meteorite Explosion and Flattened Forest Origin
Solar System Research, vol. 34, Issue 4, p.326, 2000

Abstract

No material of cosmic origin was found after the Tunguska explosion, but a vast region of flattened forest arose whose formation details can play an important role in the study of the origin of this collosal phenomenon. Using the method of ray acoustics developed for shock waves by one of the authors of this paper, the forest devastation caused by the high-altitude explosion of the Tunguska meteorite was calculated with allowance for the wind velocity gradient. The resulting shape of the region extended in the wind direction is in agreement with the observed havoc region. The energy release region, a source of shock waves, is assumed to be small in size, and, therefore, it can be simulated by a concentrated explosion without regard for a ballistic shock wave. Such a model is consistent with a fast meteorite braking after its disruption due to the increase of the frontal area caused by the velocity head of the airflow.