A comet crushed whatever was previously here.

In 1908, S. Semenov was sitting at the Vanavara Trading Post, when, as he says, “the sky split in two and fire appeared high and wide over the forest.” The summer day grew unbearably hot, and then “the sky shut closed… after that such noise came, as if rocks were falling or cannons were firing… hot wind raced between the houses, like from cannons, which left traces in the ground like pathways.” What Semenov experienced was the Tunguska event, an explosion some thousand times the power of an atomic bomb, caused by the impact of a comet fragment, a ball of ice approximately 200ft (65m) in diameter, into the Siberian taiga. While strikes like the Tunguska event can be as devastating as a nuclear weapon, larger comet strikes – on the order of miles instead of feet – would have exponentially catastrophic effects, affecting not only the region, but the entire world. While those near the impact would burn, the comet would also project dust into the atmosphere, blocking out sunlight, cooling climates and killing off vegetation (thus creating kindling for massive forest fires) worldwide.