[meteorite-list] Tunguska Questions

[Meteorites USA]

Hi Listees,

Recently there's been more interest in the Tunguska event. More 
scientists are trying to explain it, and some are even looking at a lake 
near the blasts epicenter believing that this is the missing crater. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6239334.stm

Photo of Lake Cheko: 
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/070626_lake_cheko_02.jpg

A witness in Vanovara (36 Miles SE of the epicenter) said in O. Richard 
Norton's "Rocks From Space"

"The crash was followed by noise like stones falling from the sky, or 
guns firing."

and

"when I lay on the ground I covered my head because I was afraid that 
stones might hit it."

We all know too well that witness reports aren't ideal information but 
useful anyway. But, how would this person know to say that there was a 
"noise like stones falling" unless that were the case? Or did the 
witnesses report become tainted after countless interviews? How many 
times was this witness interviewed?

I know people have searched for meteorites under and around the 
epicenter area. But what if this was a stony meteoroid, and the 
explosion blasted meteorite pieces 30-50 miles away. The devastation 
this explosion caused is evidence that it was one hell of a blast and 
was on par with a nuclear explosion.

YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiXpp-i442s

Donald Yoemans (JPL) states in the History Channel video that this blast 
was 15 megatons of equivalent energy "roughly 1000 times that of the 
Hiroshima blast."

VERY COOL ARTIST RENDERING: http://svidea.us/misha/image/tunguska2.jpg

Photos of Devastation:
http://astro.wsu.edu/worthey/astro/html/im-meteor/tunguska-photo.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Tunguska.png
http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images1/tunguska3.jpg
http://www.world-mysteries.com/sci_tu3.gif
Artist Rendering: http://aura.gaia.com/photos/34/338910/large/tunguska-1.jpg
Area Map: http://www.world-mysteries.com/sci_tunguska1.gif
Blast Damage Area: http://www.world-mysteries.com/sci_tu2.gif

When you factor in all this information, how come people aren't looking 
30-40 miles away for debris from this blast. If it was as powerful as 
they say (as evidenced by the downed trees and other devastation) 
wouldn't it make perfect sense that area around the blast would be 
completely void of meteorites as is the case?

Having said that, wouldn't it be prudent to look further away from the 
blasts epicenter for fragments? How far will a blast such as that throw 
debris? If a Navy destroyer can launch a huge shell a hundred miles 
using a few pounds of gunpowder, how far can a meteoroid blast such as 
this launch stone fragments?

Bomb squad techs and investigators will be the first to tell you that 
there's always something left over from a blast no matter how powerful. 
Pieces get thrown sometimes miles from the epicenter of powerful blast. 
In the case of Tunguska this blast was nuclear powerful! Yes a lot of 
the mass would have been melted and disintegrated but, how likely is it 
really that the blast would make ALL trace of the meteoroid disappear?

Could there be meteorite pieces within a 30-50 mile ring around the 
epicenter?

-- 
Regards,
Eric Wichman
Meteorites USA
http://www.meteoritesusa.com
904-236-5394