Lake Kaali (Kaali Meteorite Crater)

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Lake Kaali (Kaali Meteorite Crater)

03.08.2010, 14:42 — administrator

Estonians
Nature

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Lake Kaali – is the most famous and legend among all. The lake has appeared in the result of the impact of meteorite. The lake Kaali is located 80 kilometers from the largest city in Saaremaa island – Kuressaare.

The age of the crater has been estimated at anywhere between 2400 years and 7500 years. The younger estimates (2400 to 2800 years) being based on iridium deposits in a nearby bog appears to be the most likely. What this implies is that the impact happened at a time that the island was inhabited, thus it must have been witnessed by human beings, and possibly even caused human casualties. Studies have shown that the forest of Saaremaa most likely burned down entirely as a result of the impact. There are 8 other smaller impact craters in the surrounding area.

The energy of the impact is comparable with the Hiroshima Nuclear bomb. The meteorite impact burned forests within a radius of 6 km.

The meteo arrangement of the lake basin origin was first proposed by J. Kalkun-Kaljuvee in 1922. In 1937 Ivan Reinvald collected 30 fragments of meteoritic iron from the collateral craters. The analysis of the documents showed that the cosmic body fell to the Kaali area belonged to the most common type of iron meteorite, coarse octahedrite. In the main crater there is a natural water known as Lake Kaali. Its diameter ranging from 30 to 60 meters depending on the water. The depth is one to six meters.

The walls of the crater have been used as a fortress in the middle ages. The crater is also part of many Estonian myths and stories. More recently a famous children story writer in Estonia, Henno Käo, wrote a story involving a comet and this crater. I bought the book, in Estonian nonetheless, in the hope that it would help me to learn the language.

The water level of the lake changes with the seasons, as you can see from the photos below. When the lake is nearly dry a small elevated central mound appears in the lake, distinctive of impact craters.

http://www.7is7.com/otto/estonia/kaali.html

http://www.in-estonia.com/kaali-meteorite-crater.html