On the island of Saaremaa in 19 km from the town of Kuressaare is famous lake Kaali, around which for a long time there were all kinds of rumors and legends. Translated from Estonian "Kaali" means "rutabaga".

By the form of the famous lake is almost round, about 60 meters in diameter, and the bottom topography resembles a funnel. Near the pond there are several craters that are smaller.

According to one legend, the lake Kaali was formed by hero-giant Suuru Tulu. According to another version - was formed in place of the estate, where lived a brother and sister. One day they decided to get married, for which their gods and were punished: during the wedding ceremony the estate was plunged into the ground, and on his place and a lake formed.

The mystery of the origin of the reservoir was interested scientists in the XIX century First became interested in this question of the German geographer and geologist Lucae, which, however, could not solve the riddle. His compatriot scientist Vangengeim put forward the hypothesis of a volcanic origin of the lake Kaali.

Russian academician E. I. Eichwald believed that the reservoir is not created by nature, and created artificially by human hands.

Later there is another interesting hypothesis — karst, from the engineer of Reinwald. He believed that the lake owes its origin to the underground rivers, which over a long period has eroded the rocks. And at some point the land failed, creating a karst depression.

So many versions, it seemed the mystery would not be solved ever!

In 1927 Estonian mining engineer Ivan Aleksandrovich Reinwald arrived to the lake for drilling: it was believed that in the area of the water body needs to be deposits of salt. Workers have already reached the depth of 60 m, but to find it failed and was about to complete the study. However, Reinwald was extremely interested in the lake, its shape. He drew attention to raised around the twisted lumps of dolomite and limestone. As if a terrible force churned and mixed them together in one second.

Studying all kinds of literature, he suggested that the lake Kaali was founded on the site of the crater, a meteorite that fell to earth long ago. Supporting this hypothesis there was not very much. For a long time he tried to find pieces of the meteorite, but it was to no avail. But here, in 1937, the engineer decided to visit the famous lake in recent times. And this time, luck smiled at him. Exploring the Saami small crater, sifting the earth, Reinaldo managed to find a few dozen mangled pieces of iron. Analysis of these fragments in Tallinn confirmed the theory of Ivan. Finally the mystery of the lake was solved!

Many years later, scientists came to the conclusion that the Kaali craters were formed from 2500 to 7500 years ago. Huge iron meteorite, weighing 400 tons, it touched the Ground, split into several parts. They dug into the earth at a speed of 20 km/s In the largest crater left from the impact and the lake was formed Caála.