Macroparticle Charcoal in Lake Sediments of the Central Tunguska Plateau (Siberia, Evenkia) as an Indicator of Forest Fires and a Possible Trace of the Tunguska Event of 1908

The distribution of >100-µm charcoal particles, which may be traces of forest fires in the surrounding area, has been analyzed in the bottom sediments of lakes Cheko and Zapovednoe in the south of the Evenk district (Krasnoyarsk krai). The background content of charcoal particles in sediments of about 1500 years old is no less than in recent sediments. This is evidence that the intensity of fires around these lakes in the past was no less than at present and was possibly even higher in the 16th–18th centuries. Therefore, no sharp increase in the intensity of forest fires at present is confirmed for this area, which is probably related to the absence of economic activity due to the extremely low population density. The local maximum of charcoal particles revealed in the sediments of Lake Cheko corresponds to the year 1908, when the Tunguska catastrophe occurred. This is presumably a trace of an extensive forest fire caused by it.