Source parameters of the siberian explosion of June 30, 1908, from analysis and synthesis of seismic signals at four stations

Abstract Old seismograms of the Tungus event of June 30, 1908, are analysed and compared with contemporary records of air explosions from Novaya Zemlya and Lop-Nor. Observed arrival times and absolute amplitudes of Rayleigh waves, infrasonic-coupled ground-motion and SH crustal shear waves at Jena, Tiflis, Tashkent and Irkutsk, support a source model which consists of a combined action of an atmospheric-explosion equivalent to a vertical point impulse of magnitude 7 · 10 18 dyn sec and a ballistic-wave equivalent to a horizontal point impulse of magnitude 1.4 · 10 18 dyn sec striking S65°E toward the northwest. All the accumulated knowledge in earthquake and explosion seismology since the beginning of the century is harnessed to the effort of interpreting the observed seismograms. The agreement between the observations in the epicentral area and the ensuing signals in the far seismic and acoustic field support the hypothesis that the Siberian UFO explosion had the effects of an Extraterrestrial Nuclear Missile of yield 12.5 ± 2.5 Mt.

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