The blast flattened over 2,000 square kilometers of old-growth forest—an area comparable to the entire city of Atlanta. The devastation forms a distinctive non-radial "butterfly" pattern, with some trees stripped bare while hill-protected stands remained untouched. Even 19 years later, the landscape still showed massive scarring.
Tunguska blast flattened over 2,150 square kilometers of Siberian forest
Key facts
- Over 2,000 square kilometers of forest were flattened by the blast
- The devastation zone is referred to as the butterfly pattern and is not radially symmetrical
- The flattened area is comparable in size to the city of Atlanta
- Telegraph pole trees remained standing but were stripped of branches and bark
- Standing trees in some areas were protected from the blast wave by hills
- Shallow elliptical swamps near the epicenter may have formed from the blast, resembling Carolina bays
- After 19 years of regeneration, the area still showed significant devastation
Sources
Tunguska event - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
The Tunguska event is the largest impact event on Earth in recorded ... butterfly-shaped blast patterns similar to the pattern found at the Tunguska site.
THE TUNGUSKA EXPLOSION OF 1908icr.org
The Tunguska explosion occurred on the morning of June 30, 1908 at 7:17 AM local time (0h 17m 11s UT) in the area of the Stony Tunguska River.
The Tunguska event - Mensamensa.org.uk
Kulik described finding an 830-square-mile butterfly-shaped area of destruction and around 80 million uprooted trees. In the years that followed ...
Tunguska Event - Armagh Observatory and Planetariumarmagh.space
It was a visitor from outer space: a comet or asteroid explosively disintegrated in the atmosphere and caused a great amount of damage locally. The Tunguska ...
115 Years Ago: The Tunguska Asteroid Impact Event - NASAnasa.gov
... butterfly-shaped area of destruction of 830 square miles extending nine to 22 miles from the epicenter with millions of trees knocked over.
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