Not included in Cecil’s column is a recent theory that the blast was caused by pressurized, underground gases. A pertinent link to a discussion of this theory is:
"The hypothesis that it was a meteorite or any other extraterrestrial object has not quite satisfied inquisitive minds, since too many puzzles remain unsolved. A geologist Vladimir Epifanov, Siberian Research Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineral, reported to the recent Conference “Degasification of the Earthe” (Moscow) that the reason for the explosion could have been a powerful fluid jet suddenly shot up from the depth of the planet.
“Extensive carbohydrates accumulations exist in the area where the alleged ‘Tunguska meteorite’ fell down. Two abyssal breaks in this area split the sedimentary rock containing the gas-and-oil fields and gas-condensate fields sealed up by basalts on top, the basalts streamed from multiple fissures and volcanoes 200 million years ago. The epicentre of the explosion is located just above one of the ancient craters. The scientist assumes that the gases associated with the oil deposits, and methane produced in the depths of coal beds were accumulated under a thick cover of basalts and then they broke free one day. It seems that a moderate earthquake could have promoted the process.”
There was an extraorddinary “nighttime glow” in northern Europe (you could read newspapers outdoors in the middle of the night) – “noctilucent clouds” due to the sudden injection of a lot of dust into the atmosphere.
There was a recorded meteorite fall elsewhere on the same date.
micrometeorites of stony and nickel-iron material – not “carbohydrates” – were found in an elliptical “footprint” to the northwest of the blast epicenter by the 1959-1960 expeditions.
To be fair, any sort of explosive event could inject dust into the atmosphere and produce noctilucence. And the eyewitness accounts were all rather uninformed; the descriptions could possibly be consistent with a subterranean origin (especially if the descriptions were “led”).
But I’d still like to see the evidence in favor of this theory.
Yeah, but the dust was injected into the upper atmosphere over Europe, and not over Asia, where the event took place. If it wasn’t due to asomething skimmimng down over the atmosphere I find it hard to understand how it got there. (Krinov published a map of the observed region of noctilucent clouds – they weren’t seen in Asia). As for “leading questions” regarding the phenomenon – well, read the eyewitness accounts.