On the island of Saaremaa, 19 kilometres from the town of Kuressaare, is the famous Kaali Lake. Kaali Lake, which has long been the subject of all sorts of rumours and legends. Kaali means "rutabaga" in Estonian.
The shape of the famous lake is almost circular, about 60 metres across. is almost circular, about 60 metres in diameter, and the bottom relief resembles a funnel. There are several other smaller craters near the reservoir.
According to one of the legends, Kaali Lake was formed by the giant hero Suuru Talu. According to another, it was formed on the site of an estate where a brother and sister lived. One day they decided to get married, and the gods punished them for it: during the wedding ceremony, the estate sank into the ground and the lake was formed in its place.
The mystery of the origin of the reservoir was of interest to scientists in the 19th century - by the German geographer and geologist Lutze, who, however, was unable to solve the mystery. His compatriot scientist Wangenheim hypothesised the volcanic origin of Lake Kaali.
Russian academician E. I. Eichwald believed that the body of water was not created by nature, but was created artificially - by human hands.
Later another interesting hypothesis appeared from the engineer Reinwald. He believed that the lake owed its origin to underground rivers that had been eroding rock over a long over a long period of time, eroding the rocks. And at some point, the ground collapsed, creating a sinkhole. a sinkhole. So many versions, it seemed the mystery would never be solved!
In 1927, the Estonian mining engineer Ivan Alexandrovich Reinwald arrived at the lake for drilling: it was thought that there must be salt deposits in the area of the lake. The workers had already reached a depth of 60 metres, but they could not find anything and were about to end their exploration. However, Reinwald was extremely interested in the lake and its shape. He noticed the dislodged blocks of dolomite and limestone piled up around it. It was as if a terrible force had whipped and stirred them in one second.
Studying all sorts of literature, he surmised that Kaali Lake was formed by a crater, a meteorite, that fell to earth a long time ago. There were not very many people who supported this hypothesis. For a long time he tried to find pieces of meteorite, but all was to no avail. But in 1937, the engineer decided to visit the famous lake for the last time. And this time. luck smiled on him. Exploring the very small crater, sifting through the earth, Reinwald managed to find dozens of mangled pieces of iron. Analysing these fragments in Tallinn confirmed Ivan Alexandrovich's theory. At last the mystery of the lake was solved!
Many years later, scientists came to the conclusion that the Kaali craters that the Kaali craters were formed between 2,500 and 7,500 years ago. A huge iron meteorite, weighing 400 tonnes, broke into several pieces before reaching the Earth. They smashed into the ground at 20 kilometres per second. The largest crater left by the impact from the impact, Lake Kaale was formed.
