Tunguska

Tunguska , name of three eastern tributaries of the Yenisei River, Siberian Russia. The rivers cut across the swampy forests of E central Siberia, draining the Tunguska Basin . Furthest north is the Lower Tunguska, Rus. Nizhnyaya Tunguska , c.1,590 mi (2,600 km) long. It rises in the Central Siberian Plateau N of Lake Baykal and flows past Tura to join the Yenisei at Turukhansk. Flowing generally west, it is navigable (May-October) for c.1,100 mi (1,770 km). The Stony Tunguska, Rus. Podkamennaya Tunguska , c.980 mi (1,580 km) long, rises west of the headwaters of the Lower Tunguska. It flows generally NW past Baykit; there are rapids in its lower course. Upper Tunguska, Rus. Verkhnyaya Tunguska , is the name given to the lower course of the Angara River. It flows generally west and joins the Yenisei at Strelka. The area of the three rivers is the home of the Tungus .

Tunguska event An explosion above the Podkamennaya Tunguska (Stony Tunguska) River region of central Siberia at about 7.30 a.m. local time on 1908June30, caused by a large stony meteorite or cometary fragment. A fireball as bright as the Sun detonated in mid-air, producing dust which caused abnormally bright nights across Europe for days afterwards. Expeditions to the site found a vast (2200 km²) area of devastation, with trees knocked over and scorched up to 40 km away, but no craters were found. The incoming body is thought to have been 50–100 m in diameter, and to have exploded 8–9 km above the ground with the energy of 15–20 megatonnes of TNT.