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Did even Tunguska have a geological impact? And also, since 75% of the Earth is covered in water, it stands to reason that 75% of bolides exploded over an ocean
by javajosh 5y ago
Did even Tunguska have a geological impact? And also, since 75% of the Earth is covered in water, it stands to reason that 75% of bolides exploded over an ocean, with literally no impact we could meaningfully measure.
My point is that human cities are "bolide sensors" and unevenly distributed in time and space, so the "measurements" are necessarily fewer than what occurs in nature.
- staplung 5y agoBest definition of a city ever: “bolide sensor”. Love it
- jacquesm 5y agotrees flattened in a radial pattern might show up in the geological record somehow.
- gota 5y agoUnlikely after several years, let alone several thousands, right?
- bell-cot 5y agoIt would require coordinated excavation over how many square miles, to spot the radial pattern? (Assuming, as gota points out, that the fallen trees were somehow preserved.) Then there's bolides over desert, savanna, tundra, ice sheets, etc.
- heavyset_go 5y agoYes, there is geological evidence that the Tunguska event was a bolide explosion.