Scientists have solved the mystery of the fallen trees on the opposite bank of the Bureya River, where a landslide came down from the hill - they were blown away by a tsunami up to 40 meters in height after the ground fell, RIA Novosti told RIA Novosti on Friday, Chief Researcher of the Institute of Water and Environmental Problems of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Geographical Sciences Alexey Makhinov.
Part of the hill collapsed into the Bureya River 73 kilometers from the Chekunda village of the Verkhnebureinsky District of the Khabarovsk Territory and partially blocked the river bed. At first, one of the versions of what happened was called a meteorite fall, but later scientists gave an unambiguous conclusion: the hill collapsed due to a landslide.
Scientists have already called the Bureysky landslide the largest in the country in recent years. The volume of the descended soil is about 34 million cubic meters. Several anomalies were recorded at the site of the descent of the soil, which require explanation. For example, on an area of 1.6 square kilometers on the opposite side of Bureya, all trees were destroyed. This information is confirmed by satellite images, which recorded the state of the area between December 9 and 12.
“That fallen forest on the opposite bank of the river, at first thought it was before the landslide. But the height seemed great, and the head of the district insisted that there was a forest there before the landslide. A professor I know wrote to me that during a landslide there should be a splash of water, because he fell into the water. Then I compared the photographs and found traces of this phenomenon, which irrefutably indicate that there was a splash of water when the landslide fell. And its height was up to 40 meters. She crossed to the other side, blew all the trees under the root, and a wave rose along the valley of the Middle Sandar River (a tributary of the Bureya) four kilometers upstream. Tsunami in the Far Eastern taiga is such an incredible anomaly,”Makhinov said.
He noted that then the water rolled down, traces of water flow were found.
Earlier it was reported that the government of the Khabarovsk Territory will send an expedition to the scene, the participants of which will collect material to develop a plan to eliminate the consequences of the landslide.