Wolfgang Kundt, The 1908 Tunguska catastrophe: An
alternative explanation, CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 81, NO. 4, 25 AUGUST 2001

More than seventeen reasons are presented as to why the fiery Siberian event of 30 June 1908, near the Stony Tunguska river, was not caused by the infall of a stony asteroid, nor of an (icy) comet, but rather by the volcanic ejection of some 10 Mt of natural gas. For the volcanic (outflow) interpretation, estimates are presented of the involved mass and kinetic energy of the vented natural gas, its outflow timescale, supersonic and subsonic ranges, and buoyant escape towards the exosphere. The Tunguska event may well have been the present-day formation of a kimberlite.

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