What Genesis says
Genesis places Sodom and Gomorrah in the Jordan plain, alongside Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela, also called Zoar (Genesis 13:10-12; Genesis 14:2-3). Lot chose the region because it looked fertile and well watered. Yet the same account says that Sodom’s people were deeply wicked before the Lord (Genesis 13:13).
When judgement came, Genesis describes the Lord raining brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24-25). Brimstone means sulphur. The passage presents the destruction as God’s judgement, but it does not mention a meteor, a comet, an explosion in the sky, or an impact crater.
Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;
Have the cities been located?
Several places around the Dead Sea have been proposed as possible locations. A prominent recent suggestion is Tall el-Hammam, northeast of the Dead Sea in present-day Jordan. Excavators have found evidence that the city suffered a violent destruction, and some researchers have linked that destruction with an intense blast from the sky.
That is interesting, but it does not settle the question. Archaeologists disagree about the site’s date, whether it fits the geography described in Genesis, and what caused its destruction. Other suggested sites lie farther south of the Dead Sea. No excavated inscription has identified a city as Sodom or Gomorrah.
What about the meteor theory?
An airburst happens when a meteor or comet breaks apart in the atmosphere. Such an event can produce extreme heat and pressure without leaving a clear impact crater. So the idea is possible in general, but possibility is not proof that it happened at Sodom.
Christians do not need to force Genesis into a modern scientific explanation. God may work through extraordinary natural events, or through means beyond our ability to reconstruct. Genesis does not focus on the mechanism. It focuses on the Lord hearing the outcry over grave evil, rescuing Lot, and bringing a decisive judgement on the cities (Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:15-17).
What can be said with confidence
The New Testament treats Sodom and Gomorrah as a real warning from Israel’s history. Peter points to their destruction while also saying that God knows how to rescue the godly and hold the unjust accountable (2 Peter 2:6-9). Jude likewise recalls their judgement as an example of sin’s seriousness (Jude 1:7).
So it is fair to say that the Bible describes a real and terrible destruction, and that researchers are still investigating possible sites. It is not fair to claim that Sodom and Gomorrah have certainly been found, or that a meteor has certainly been established as the cause. Read Genesis 18 and 19 for yourself. The heart of the account is not hidden in a crater or laboratory report.
And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;