# Airburst · Concept

> A meteor exploding in the air before reaching the ground.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW04CQFHJ/airburst  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Concepts](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts)Airburst

Concept · geology · in 2 mysteries

# Airburst

A meteor exploding in the air before reaching the ground.

[Younger Dryas impact hypothesis](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/younger-dryas-impact)[1908 Tunguska event](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tunguska-event)

A body entering the atmosphere at speed can break up and release its energy above the ground, flattening what is below without leaving a crater. Tunguska in 1908 is the type case: eighty million trees down and no hole. Airbursts are invoked where destruction is claimed without a crater, and the question is then what traces one leaves.

## Where it comes up

**[Younger Dryas impact hypothesis](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/younger-dryas-impact)**

No impact or airburst occurred; the proposed markers are terrestrial or background cosmic material concentrated by ordinary sedimentary processes.

[Q: Did an extraterrestrial impact or airburst occur at the onset of the Younger Dryas, about 12,800 years ago?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/younger-dryas-impact/questions/QST0D51X8AJ1304/did-an-extraterrestrial-impact-or-airburst-occur-at-the)[No impact or airburst occurred; the proposed markers are terrestrial or background cosmic material…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/younger-dryas-impact/answers/ANS0D51XBQY621Q/no-impact-or-airburst-occurred-the-proposed-markers-are)[Airbursts and impacts from a large fragmenting comet deposited a synchronous boundary layer with impact…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/younger-dryas-impact/answers/ANS0D51XA183EE5/airbursts-and-impacts-from-a-large-fragmenting-comet)[The markers form only at the temperatures and pressures of impacts and airbursts, and they peak at the…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/younger-dryas-impact/answers/ANS0D51XFD40S6P/the-markers-form-only-at-the-temperatures-and-pressures-of)

**[1908 Tunguska event](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tunguska-event)**

[Some magnetic anomalies at the epicentre were produced or altered by the airburst.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tunguska-event/answers/ANS0D4ECP7W5ZJS/some-magnetic-anomalies-at-the-epicentre-were-produced-or)[Tree-fall direction catalogue and map (Fast's 1960s surveys, unified by Longo et al. 2005)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0D4ECQEY4AFT/tree-fall-direction-catalogue-and-map-fasts-1960s-surveys)

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Airburst [Concept CPT0DECW04CQFHJ]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/CPT0DECW04CQFHJ
```

Key

**CPT** 0DECW04CQFHJ

Record

Concept

Field

Geology

Related

[Impact hypothesis](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW046HBQE/impact-hypothesis)

Version

2

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[Impact hypothesis](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW046HBQE/impact-hypothesis)

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