The1930 Curuçá River event refers to the possible fall of objects on 13 August 1930 over the area ofCuruçá River inBrazil.[1][2] It is based on the account of a single investigator who interviewed witnesses to the purported event and then wrote a letter to theVatican Observatory.
The event received little attention until 1995, when British astronomer Mark E. Bailey found in theVatican Library archives a 1931 issue ofL'Osservatore Romano, which contained a dispatch from theFranciscan friar Fedele d'Alviano. D'Alviano had visited the region five days after the event and interviewed people from the region; they told him they were frightened by what had happened. According to Bailey, the Curuçá event was one of the most important impact events of the 20th century.
Inspired by Bailey's article and based on images fromLandsat satellites, the Brazilian astrophysicist Ramiro de la Reza attempted to find anastrobleme—the remains of a meteorite impact crater. He explored a circular feature measuring 1 km in diameter, to the southeast of the village of Argemiro, but found no evidence for impact.[2]
In the first week of June 1997, de la Reza led an expedition organized byRede Globo and co-financed byABC Television ofAustralia, to the region where the event is said to have occurred. Subsequent researchers have concluded that the circular feature is unrelated to the reported event, and is not an impact crater.[3][4]
Assuming that the reported event was an air burst, various researchers have estimated the initial mass of themeteor at between 1,000 and 25,000 tons.[5] Estimates for the energy released have varied from 9kilotons,[3] 100 kilotons,[5] and 5 megatons,[1] though most estimates place the energy at below 1 megaton, comparable to theChelyabinsk meteor.[5][3][6]
Bailey, Mark E. et al. 1995. The Observatory Vol. 115 (1128), pp. 250–253
Daily Herald. Menace of meteors like huge bombs from space. 6 Mar 1931, p. 9.
De la Reza, J. R.; Rumble in the Jungle, Quantum programme of the ABC-TV, Australia, directed by Richard Smith, ABC-TV Science Unit, 1998.
Gehrels, T.,;Collisions with Comets and Asteroids. Scientific American, Vol. 274, No. 3., March, 1996, pp. 54–59.
Gorelli, R.; The Rio Curuçá Event. Meteorite!, August 1995, p. 26.
Huyghe, P.; Incident at Curuça. The Sciences, March/April, 1996, pp. 14–17.
Informazioni Fides, L'Osservatore Romano. The Fall of Three Bolides on the Amazonas. Strange and Frightening Phenomena. 1 March, p. 5, 1931. (English translation in Bailey et al. 1995.)
Kulik, L. A.; The Brazilian twin of the Tunguska meteorite. Priroda i Ljudi, 13–14, p. 6, 1931.
Vasilyev, N.; and Andreev, G.; The Brazilian Twin of the Tunguska Meteorite: Myth or Reality? WGN, The Journal of the International Meteor Organization, 17, No.6, pp. 247–248, 1989.
Vega, A. J.; Possible Evidencia Sismica del Evento "Tunguska" del 13 de Agosto de 1930, Ocurrido en Brasil. Revista Geofísica Instituto Panamericano de Geografia e Historia 44, Enero-Junio, pp. 201–211, 1996.
