* Astronomy

A POSSIBILITY OF A TUNGUSKA METEORITE FRAGMENT FALLING IN LESOSIBIRSK
Author: V.I. Kharevich

Lesosibirsk Pedagogical Institute, Kras. State University 63131, Lesosibirsk, 42, Pobeda St., Russia

The mirror-smooth surface of the jewel of Eastern Siberia, the Baikal Lake reminds one of a huge bowl of a radiotelescope. In its focal plane, situated in the environs of the town of Lesosibirsk in Krasnoyarsky Krai, there is another lake bearing the same beautiful name of Baikal.
Its great depth – 3,5m in the north only half a metre from the bank and 26m at a distance of a few dozens of metres, as well as an obvious elevation on the bank in the north-east, reminiscent of a powerful ejection and a slightly elongated shape, close to the circumference of its banks, compel one to suppose a possible meteoritic origin of the lake. The flatness of the surrounding country-side and the small age of the trees, growing on its banks are additional arguments and the recollections of the old inhabitants are evidence of almost a century since its foundation -all this testifies against its technogenic origin. A double bottom, the upper one at a depth of about 2m from the surface of the water, consisting of felled trees and moss covering them and the steep precipitous banks give good grounds for a supposition of its meteoritic origin.

On June 30, 1908, the inhabitants of Kamensk,a small settlement situated only 4km to the east from the lake, observed a fiery column that shot through in the north-east direction, and a powerful trembling of the soil and great waves that appeared on the Yenisei River testify to a possibility of some fragments of the disintegrating meteoritic body, falling in the neighbourhood. Several lakes in the neighbouring taiga

Backwoods, difficult of access for the investigators are still awaiting a thorough investigation. A grandson of an eyewitness of the Tunguska meteorite, Saveliev Vladimir, took measurements of one such lake in the North Yeniseisk district. The round shape and a great depth of about 30 m do not preclude the validity of his supposition of its meteoritic origin, especially since it is located in rocky soil. Semionov V.I., Krasovsky A. and Zalozhuk P.A. reported other lakes, having a round shape and a great depth.

The Baikal Lake, situated only 2km from the Yeniseisk highway, presents a perfect object of research, especially since a forest road leading to it is usable in summer and autumn for motor transportation, which the members of the Siberian Tunguska Cosmic Phenomenon Fund used when the visited the lake on October 15 and 16 .As Lavbin Yu.D., the President of the Fund claimed on first seeing the lake, it presents a classical example of a meteoritic bowl.

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