Re: Planet X: TUNGUSKA as Example

John Shakespeare wrote
> Hi J. William,
> "J. William Dell" wrote:
>> Jan Friberg wrote in message
>>>> BTW there is insufficient physical evidence of a meteor 
>>>> or meteor crater to support the asteroid theory.
>>> Could not the same be said about the methane gas explosion theory?
>> Circumstantial evidence would lead to methane gas as being a possible cause.
>> No crater is required under this theory.
>> The asteroid theory requires physical evidence of a meteor, crater or
>> residue, of which none exists.
> There was a residue: microscopic dust particles in the upper atmosphere,
> which gave the intense red sunsets, sunrises, and northern skies at night
> recorded in Britain. Apparently it strongly resembled the aftermath of the
> Krakatoa eruption, which led to such skies in Britain after a year or two
> (the Krakatoa dust needed a few circuits around the Earth to migrate so far
> north). In fact, until accounts of the Tunguska event reached Britain, there
> was speculation that an unknown volcano had erupted in Siberia or some
> other uninhabited part of the north.

2.7. THE SKY GLOW
  Note: The unusual glow in the sky was first observed days before the event [23].
  Beginning on June 23, 1908, atmospheric optical amonalies were observed in
  many places of Western Europe, the European part of Russia and Western
  Siberia. They gradually increased in intensity until June 29 and then
  reached a peak in the early morning of July 1st. These anomalies included an
  unprecedentedly active formation of mesospheric (noctilucent) clouds, bright
  "volcanic" twilights, disturbances in the normal motion of the Arago and
  Babinet neutral points, a possible increase in the emission of the night
  sky, and unprecedentedly intense and long solar halos. Later on, after July
  1, these effects decreased exponentially [23]. The area involved in these
  phenomena was limited by the Yenisey river in the East, by the Tashkent -
  Stavropol - Sevastopol - Bordeaux line in the South, and by the Atlantic
  coast in the West [23].

3.1. LUMINOUS EFFECTS OF TECTONIC ACTIVITY
  A surge in tectonic activity may produce various optical effects in the
  atmosphere: luminous columns, stripes, lightnings, flame, glowing sky, etc.
  Exploding "meteors" are among them.....
  These exploding fireballs happen in connection with many earthquakes. Some
  of them are mentioned in [24]. Here are example.
  During the earthquake in the Tama Hills, Japan June 17, 1931 "a fireball
  rose in the sky and disappeared. A sound like "Bah..." was heard. The lower
  sky was coloured pink-red for some time after the disappearance of the
  light".
  On April 22, 1974 immediately before the earthquake hit Kiangsu province in
  China, people saw a bright streak of light in the sky. Sparkling and
  glittering with the "lightnings" dancing across it, it proceeded from
  southwest to northeast. The spectacle went on for some 3-4 seconds. In
  another Chinese province, Liaoning, fiery columns and balls flashed up in
  the sky on February 4, 1975, and a "flame" shot up toward the sky at the
  time of the earthquake. The precursors of the Tangshang earthquake in the
  Chinese province of Hopeh on July 28, 1976, were revealing in a way. About a
  half hour before the disaster, a bright flickering light was spotted in the
  distance. Instantly it was transformed from red to silvery blue, and then
  lengthened into a blinding white strip that darted across the sky and went
  out immediately. The eyewitnesses had the impression of a nuclear explosion.
  At the time of the earthquake an engine driver saw a lightning in the form
  of 3 blinding light beams, which were followed by 3 mushroom-shaped smoke
  columns.......

In general "tectonic lights" could be "meteors", pillars, rays, shooting up
flame (usually in an epicenter), semispheres, fireball, patches and bands
(in the sky and on the ground), all-sky luminosity, flashes, "auroras",
sparks, "clouds", black objects and many others. They have some tendency to
move towards an epicenter of an earthquake. Also, please, pay attention,
that sometimes earthquake lights accompanied very weak earthquakes

> Note that a meteor exploding in the upper atmosphere will reduce itself to
> very fine dust,

Extraterrestrial residue would persist and be detectable.

> but that an atmospheric explosion of methane (presumably derived from
> methyl hydrates?) will _not_ generate dust fine enough to create red
> sunsets/sunrises/nights, nor will it raise anything much to tens of kilometres
> altitude.

This would depend of what other impurities were included in the dust cloud
generated by the event. And on how much methane was involved.

3.10. THE CHEMICAL TRACES
  In [16] it was recognized that the composition of the discovered
  microparticles resembles the traces of increased tectonic activity or
  volcanic activity. But authors of [16] were not aware of the increase of the
  tectonic activity at the Tunguska site and time (see section 3.4).
  The author also states that discovered chemical anomalies are very similar
  with accompanying tectonic and volcanic activity. The author compared them
  with microparticles from the Kamchatka volcanoes and found that their
  morphology and even dimensions are also similar.
  Iridium is also revealed in the volcanic emanations, especially from the
  "hot-spot" regions [56].
  Discovered isotopic anomalies at the Tunguska epicenter also confirm the
  tectonic activity.

Remarkably, that an Greenland ice layer corresponding to the spring-summer of 1908
contains extremely large quantity of terrestrial dust (probably soot, in
general)!

> It is far better supported by the facts (including reports by eyewitnesses)

2.1. THE EYEWITNESSES ACCOUNTS
  Nizshne-Ilimskoye (419 km, 168). The fireball was seen which while going to
  the ground at first flattened into 'flying saucer'. Then coming nearer to
  the ground it transformed into 2 fire columns. Os'kino (330 km, 89).
  Innokentii Farkov said a gradually rising boom coming from afar was heard
  since morning hours. The old men, thinking their dying hours had come, were
  changing into clean shirts, and one of them even washed in the bath house to
  meet the death clean. The ground trembled as a black body flew past,
  trailing a fiery tail.
  Kezhma (214 km, 193). This settlement is a good example to demonstrate the
  strange (for the meteoritic interpretation) property of the Tunguska
  accounts: as usually different luminous phenomena were reported by different
  eyewitnesses from the same place. In Kezhma they were: a flying luminous
  cloud, multicolored luminous bands, a fireball, a flame over the northern
  horizon. For example, Kokorin A. K., the observer of the Kezhma
  meteorological station marked in the observational register (pay attention
  to EVIDENTLY HIGH TRUSTWORTHINESS of this information!) that at 7 a.m. two
  giant fiery circles appeared on the north. They persisted for 4 minutes and
  then disappeared. Soon after, noise, like a wind was heard. It came from the
  north to the south and its duration was 5 minutes. Then other sounds,
  resembling large cannon shots and crackling appeared. Windows trembled.
  These shots continued for 2 minutes, then a crackling like a gun shot
  appeared and persisted for 2 minutes. The sky was clear.
  Tetere (92 km, 165). Fire columns were seen in the north.
  Vanavara (65 km, 161). Nobody saw any fireball. A bright flame shooting up
  from the north horizon was seen.

> than an explosion of megatonnes of methane. The methane theory is just too
> far-fetched: megatonnes of a light gas would have to accumulate faster than it
> could be dispersed by wind, but some dispersion would be necessary at exactly
> the right rate to create an explosive (not just flammable) mixture with air over
> a large volume.

Extreme high pressure weather system over the area for two weeks prior,
changing to low pressure weather system just before event.
Earthquake activity before and at time of event.
Epicentre of blast in volcanic caldera.

Methane forms explosive mixtures with air in the 5 - 14 % range

CH4(g) + 2 O2(g)  -----> CO2(g) + 2 H2O(g) ^H = -802.3 kJ
Methane + Oxygen  -----> Carbon Dioxide + Water and Energy
                         Leads to Accelerated plant growth - observed at Tunguska
                         Higher Percipitation in Siberia - recorded data July 1908

> The theory also lacks any plausible conjecture concerning a source for the
> methane (forget methyl hydrates: not on land).

Permafrost and frozen lands in Artic regions are known to contain methane
deposits including hydrates.
Being a volcanic region adds to the probability.
http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/gas-hydrates/title.html
see gif.6 for illustration


>> Perhaps an expansion of a tectonic explosive event theory.

I am not suggestion a methane explosion alone, but, in conjunction with
tectonic activity which in all likelihood caused the release of methane 
in it's early activity. The unique part of this event would be the capture 
of the cold methane in the volcanic caldera by an air inversion due to the
high pressure system over Siberia at the time.

>> The Tunguska meteor theory has been used as a recent example (1908)
>> to justify increased spending on NEO tracking and interception.
>  (just look what can happen if a large meteor hits us!!)
>>
>> It is not supported by the facts, and remains a theory.

JD