PLEASE NOTE:
*
Date sent: Wed, 05 Nov
1997 12:36:48 -0500 (EST)
From:
Benny J Peiser <B.J.PEISER@livjm.ac.uk
Subject:
CC-DIGEST 5 November 1997
To:
cambridge-conference@livjm.ac.uk
Priority: NORMAL
CAMBRIDGE-CONFERENCE DIGEST, 5 November 1997
--------------------------------------------
(1) CANADA MAY FACE THE BIG QUAKE
(2) TUNGUSKA QUESTIONS
(3) TUNGUSKA ANSWERS
(4) THE AMERICAN METEOR SOCIETY - CHARLES P OLIVIER AWARD
=======================================================================
From: The Times, 3 November 1997
(1) CANADA MAY FACE THE BIG QUAKE
By Nigel Hawkes, Science Editor
Japanese historical records and the stumps of long dead cedar
trees
have combined to reveal that a huge earthquake occurred nearly
300
years ago off the Pacific coast of North America. This was a
century
before Europeans settled the area, and native Americans kept no
records. But thousands of miles across the Pacific, the Japanese
recorded a tsunami ­ an ocean wave ­ which swept
ashore on January 27
and 28, 1700.
The Japanese team who dug up the records, led by Dr Kenji
Satake of
the Geological Survey of Japan, could find no local earthquake
able
to account for them. Along a considerable stretch of the Japanese
coast, waves up to ten feet high came ashore, doing sufficient
damage
to feature in Japanese historical records. This was a modest
tsunami,
but what puzzled the Japanese team was that they were unable to
identify the earthquake responsible. Tsunamis are caused by
shifts in
the sea floor, often as a result of earthquakes, and travel
across
the oceans at speeds close to 600 mph. They can be as tall as a
five-storey building, and do immense damage: a Chilean tsunami in
1960 killed 5,000 in South America, travelled across the Pacific
and
killed another 61 in Hawaii and 150 in Japan.
Last January, the Japanese team reported in Nature that they
believed
the origin of the 1700 tsunami to be the Cascadia subduction
zone,
where the small Juan de Fuca plate (a slab of crust about the
size of
England) slides below the North American plate along a 600-mile
fault
stretching from British Columbia to northern California. From the
size of the tsunami, they estimated that it had been caused by an
earthquake of magnitude nine on the Richter Scale ­ a
really huge one
for an area known to be subject to earthquakes but with no
seismological records of any quakes greater than five.
Now a team from the University of Washington has added some
corroboration. They examined wood from long dead trees in the
tidal wetlands along 60 miles of the subduction zone, and used
tree-ring dating to try to discover exactly when they had died.
Decay had rotted the outer rings on the trunks of the trees, but
the roots gave more precise dates. In seven out of eight, the
final
ring formed in 1699, and detailed examination pinned down the
time of
death even more exactly, to the months between the end of the
1699
growing season in August and the beginning of the 1700 season in
May.
"We are saying this huge earthquake really
happened," says Dr David
Yamaguchi, leader of the team, which reports its results in the
current issue of Nature. The trees give no idea of the magnitude
of
the quake, but the tsunami does. "By converging on January
1700, the
dates mean that Canada and the northwestern United States are
plausibly subject to earthquakes of magnitude nine," the
team
concludes. Very few earthquakes this powerful have occurred
anywhere
in the world this century. But if the analysis is right, it may
be
that "the Big One" is not going to hit Los Angeles
after all, but
further north.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Comment: There is no reason to doubt the possibility that
earthquakes
of immense magnitude (nine on the Richter scale) might have occur
from
time to time on the Pacific coast of North-America. But
earthquakes
are certainly not the only trigger of major tsunamis and flood
disasters. A Tunguska-size object hitting the surface of one of
the
world's oceans (instead of exploding in the atmosphere) would
produce
the same kind of huge tidal waves whith similarly catastrophic
effects.
Benny J Peiser
=====================================================================
(2) TUNGUSKA QUESTIONS
From: Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
I was cleaning out my desk, and I came across an article that
I had
clipped out from Sky & Telescope titled "Tunguska's
Smoking Gun?". I
did not record the date of the article, but I think it is about 2
to
3 years old.
Anyway, if you will recall, there was a well-known explosion
in 1908
over Siberia, the Tunguska explosion, which flattened several
trees
[sic]. It was theorized that either a comet or asteroid had
exploded
in the atmosphere, and the blast leveled the area underneath.
Several expeditions to the area did not turn up any fragments
from
this exploding object, at least until I saw this article.
The article said that small particles from the impactor were
found in
the tree resin in the Tunguska blast site (this is quite similar
to
insects being trapped in tree sap, which later turns to amber).
The analysis of these particles match up well with a typical
stony
meteorite, which is a strong indication the Tunguska object was
an
asteroid. Included with the article is photo of a slice of the
tree
trunk showing the brown resin with the trapped particles.
Ever since this article, I've seen any followup information,
and I
was wondering if anyone has heard of any recent updates on this
particular subject.
Ron Baalke
========================================================================
(3) TUNGUSKA ANSWERS
From: Paolo Farinella <paolof@keplero.dm.unipi.it
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 16:23:03 +0100 (CET)
From: "LONGO@BO.INFN.IT FAX:**39-51-247244"
Giuseppe.Longo@bo.infn.it
To: paolof@dm.unipi.it
Subject: Tunguska web page
In the Tunguska Web page of the University of Bologna
http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/
you can find the preliminary index of the special issue of
"Planetary
and Space Sciences" with the Proceedings of the Tunguska 96
International Workshop, held in Bologna in July 1996.
The Web page contains information about the work of the group
of the
University of Bologna, data on "Tunguska-related"
asteroids, links to
Tunguska home pages in the world and related links.
=====================================================================
(4) THE AMERICAN METEOR SOCIETY - CHARLES P OLIVIER AWARD
From: Jim Richardson <richardson@digitalexp.com
The American Meteor Society is a non-profit scientific
organization
established for the purpose of conducting, coordinating, and
encouraging amateur-professional collaboration in meteor
astronomy.
As a result of a modest endowment from the Clinton B. Ford estate
in
1993, the society wishes to regularly recognize those amateur
astronomers who have made a meritorious contribution to the field
of
meteor science.
The Charles P. Olivier Award will consist of a plaque and
modest cash
prize, awarded annually by the American Meteor Society Board of
Directors. Recipients will be officially recognized in the
Society's
Annual Report, along with other AMS printed and electronic
publications.
The nominating procedure and criteria for receipt of the
Charles P.
Olivier Award are as follows:
1. The recipient must be an amateur worker in the field
of meteor
science, and not professionally employed in the field.
Questions
regarding this "amateur" status will be resolved by the
AMS Board of
Directors.
2. The recipient need not be an American Meteor Society
affiliate or
associate.
3. AMS officers, that is, members of the Board of
Directors or
Operations Staff, are not eligible for this award.
Affiliate group
directors may be considered only if they do not hold titled
positions
within the staff.
4. Nominations for the Charles P. Olivier Award may be
made only by
American Meteor Society associates, affiliates, or
officers. Persons
may not nominate themselves.
5. Nominations should consist of a one-page written
description of
the nominee's meritorious service and reasons why they should
receive
the award. Nominations will be received in either electronic or
printed format by the AMS Operations manager.
6. Nominations will be received during the last quarter
of each
calendar year, beginning October 1. Deadline for nominations will
be
December 31.
7. Nominations will be reviewed by the AMS staff and
professional
advisors. Following review, nominations will be presented to the
Board of Directors for decision.
8. The AMS Board of Directors will announce the Charles
P. Olivier
Award winner during the first quarter of the year following
nomination submissions. The decision will be rendered no later
than
March 31.
9. If no suitable nominee is found, the Board of
Directors will
retain the ability to forgo making the award.
10. No one may receive the award more than once.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Send nominations to:
James Richardson
AMS Operations Manager
Route 2, Box 118
Graceville, FL 32440
Email: richardson@digitalexp.com
Operations Manager / Radiometeor Project Coordinator
American Meteor Society (AMS)
http://www.serve.com/meteors/
*
From:
Bob Kobres <bkobres@uga.cc.uga.edu
Organization: University of Georgia
Libraries
To:
Benny J Peiser <B.J.PEISER@livjm.ac.uk
Date sent: Wed, 5 Nov
1997 10:52:47 EST
Subject:
Re: TUNGUSKA QUESTIONS
Copies to:
cambridge-conference@livjm.ac.uk
Priority: normal
There is a well done (even though it is published by the
makers of Mickey
Mouse :) overview of "The Last Great Impact on Earth"
at:
http://www.dc.enews.com/magazines/discover/magtxt/090196-1.html
The September, 96, article is by Richard Stone.
Another pertinent reference is: "An analytical model of
the atmospheric
entry of large meteors and its application to the Tunguska
Event" by J. E.
Lyne, M. Tauber, and R. Fought, in the "Journal of
Geophysical Research,"
vol. 101, no. E10, pp 23,207-23,212, Oct. 25, 1996.
bobk
=====================================================================
(2)
TUNGUSKA QUESTIONS
From: Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
I was cleaning out my desk, and I came across an article that I
had
clipped out from Sky & Telescope titled "Tunguska's
Smoking Gun?". I did
not record the date of the article, but I think it is about 2 to
3 years
old.
Anyway, if you will recall, there was a well-known explosion in
1908 over
Siberia, the Tunguska explosion, which flattened several trees
[sic]. It
was theorized that either a comet or asteroid had exploded in the
atmosphere, and the blast leveled the area underneath.
Several
expeditions to the area did not turn up any fragments from this
exploding
object, at least until I saw this article.
The article said that small particles from the impactor were
found in the
tree resin in the Tunguska blast site (this is quite similar to
insects
being trapped in tree sap, which later turns to amber). The
analysis of
these particles match up well with a typical stony meteorite,
which is a
strong indication the Tunguska object was an asteroid. Included
with the
article is photo of a slice of the tree trunk showing the brown
resin with
the trapped particles.
Ever since this article, I've seen any followup information, and
I
was wondering if anyone has heard of any recent updates on this
particular subject.
Ron Baalke
========================================================================
(3) TUNGUSKA ANSWERS
From: Paolo Farinella <paolof@keplero.dm.unipi.it
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 16:23:03 +0100 (CET)
From: "LONGO@BO.INFN.IT FAX:**39-51-247244"
Giuseppe.Longo@bo.infn.it
To: paolof@dm.unipi.it
Subject: Tunguska web page
In the Tunguska Web page of the University of Bologna
http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/
you can find the preliminary index of the special issue of
"Planetary and
Space Sciences" with the Proceedings of the Tunguska 96
International
Workshop, held in Bologna in July 1996.
The Web page contains information about the work of the group of
the
University of Bologna, data on "Tunguska-related"
asteroids, links to
Tunguska home pages in the world and related links.
=====================================================================
Bob Kobres
email= <bkobres@uga.cc.uga.edu
url= http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk
phone= 706-542-0583