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Physics LibreTexts

9.11: The Impact of Meteorites

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Meteorites can cause damage upon impact, from minor to significant. Examples of three major impacts causing significant damage in the last 100 years are included below.

Tunguska

Place

  • Tunguska, Krasnoyarsk | Krai, Russia

Date

  • June 30, 1908

The Impact

  • An air burst comet or asteroid impact damaging over some 2,150 square kilometers or 830 square miles of forested area. No meteorites were ever recovered.

Sikote-Alin

Place

  • Sikhote-Alin, Primorye | Russia

Date

  • February 12, 1947

The Impact

  • A brighter-than-the-sun fireball announced the arrival of an air burst impactor, showering some 28 tons of meteoritic iron shrapnel on the Sikhote-Alin Mountains.

Chelyabinsk Oblast

Place

  • Chelyabinsk Oblast | Russia

Date

  • February 15, 2013

The Impact

  • 1,491 people were injured and over 7,200 buildings damaged by the air burst from this impactor, estimated to weigh 10,000 tons; numerous stone meteorites were found.

This page titled 9.11: The Impact of Meteorites is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Lumen Learning via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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