The Tunguska event on June 20, 1908 was the mysterious mega-explosion of the large fireball above the sky of Taiga over the Stony Tunguska River. The Italian scientists theorized that the massive explosion that caused 80 million trees to be flattened in remote Siberia was an air burst of a meteor that pointed to a 500-meter diameter Lake Cheko as the impact crater. On the other hand, in a new study by the Russian scientists, it indicates that the blue Lake Cheko is older than the Tunguska event in 1908.
Luca Gasperini, an Italian scientist who led the study a decade ago from the Italy's University of Bologna, referred to Lake Cheko, which is situated about 8 km from the supposed ground zero of the Tunguska event, as the impact crater. The team also concluded that there is a dense stony matter under the floor and sediment, which could be the remnant of the exploding meteorite.
The explosion was about powerful as 185 Hiroshima bombs. It was reported that about 2,000 sq km of forest was flattened and thousands of carcasses of reindeer scattered on the ground. On the other hand, the good thing was that there were no reports of human fatalities, according to Siberian Times.
Meanwhile, the Russian scientists with their new study would likely dispute with the Italian scientists. The researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences took samples such as sediment cores from the base of the lake. They discovered that these dated to at least 280 years old. This means that the lake has been there long before the Tunguska event happened, according to IFL Science.
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