Long before dinosaurs, before forests, even before WLBOTT instituted its Work/Life Balance program, there was The Meteorite. This is before Estonia was even in the northern hemisphere!
By the way, during the neolithic era, Estonia was known simply as “Stonia”. It wasn’t until the tech boom of the late ’90s that the country became known as “E-stonia”.
Kärdla (also Kärdla astrobleme) is a meteorite crater near the town of Kärdla in Estonia.
It is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) in diameter and its age is estimated to be about 455 million years (Late Ordovician). The crater is not exposed at the surface.
Its formation has been associated with the breakdown of 100km asteroid.
The Estonians built a 1/100th outdoor scale model of the Kärdla crater.
Model field of Kärdla meteoride crater In order to get a better overview of the special natural monument, a model field of the crater has been built, which gives a spatially perceptible picture of the size and proportions of the Kärdla crater. The model field has a hundredfold reduction compared to the actual size of the crater, its diameter is about 43 meters and the length of the circle is 140 meters.
A commentator on Trip Advisor were disappointed – they didn’t realize the park was a scale recreation. They thought the site was the actual crater, and wondered what the fuss was about something so dinky.
I went there to find a crater. I found a sign describing the crater and a circular ring of dirt and debris. Certainly not the 4km diameter the crater is described to have. – Trip Advisor
Some Time Units
Our WLBOTT researchers kept running into the abbreviation “Ma”. We generally avoid trying to learn anything new, but in this case we were forced to. Here’s the scoop”
Ma = mega-annum. 1 Ma = 1 million years
It also pairs nicely with related units:
ka = thousand years (kilo-annum)
Ga = billion years (giga-annum)
So the Kärdla crater formed around 455 Ma, during the Ordovician.
What was the World Like 450 Ma?
No ice caps. What would become Estonia was south of the equator, slowing moving north. The land was mostly barren and lifeless.
Sea Critters at 450 Ma
Elder G gives us an overview of the ocean’s lifeforms at 450 Ma.
Key players:
Trilobites – the busy commuters of the seafloor
Brachiopods – shellfish-like creatures carpeting the bottom
Orthocone nautiloids – long, straight-shelled predators (the rulers of this world)
Early algae and microbial mats – the base of the ecosystem
Crinoids (sea lilies) – anchored, flower-like animals waving in currents
No fish with jaws yet. No sharks. No dolphins. This was a world before charisma evolved—yet somehow, it still teemed with quiet complexity.
Geologist helps confirm date of earliest land plants on Earth A new UO study confirms what earth scientists have long suspected: Plants first appeared on land about 460 million years ago, in the middle of a 45-million-year-long geologic period known as the Ordovician.
Authored by geologist Greg Retallack and published in the international journal The Palaeobotanist, the study describes a series of plant impressions in an Ordovician rock deposit from Douglas Dam in Tennessee. While previous studies have revealed fossil evidence of invertebrate animals in the deposit, Retallack’s is the first to identify whole fossil plants, including mosses, liverworts and lichens.
“Fossil spores liberated from rocks have indicated a likely presence of nonvascular plants like these, and soil analysis and carbon isotope studies have all pointed to the likely presence of land plants during this period, but this is the first line of direct evidence,” he said.
If land plants emerged and proliferated 460 million years ago, they may have directly contributed to a decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide and, in turn, to the global cooling that fueled an explosion of new marine life during the Ordovician and eventually ushered an ice age that occurred about 445 million years ago.
One of the newly identified fossil moss species, Dollyphyton boucotii, has been named for legendary singer Dolly Parton, whose Dollywood theme park is located a few miles away from the original rock deposit.
Our new menu is now in front of you 🖤 We once again invited Angelica Udekülli to help us, to put together a delicious taste pleasure that would focus on both the producer of Hiiumaa, the peculiarities of the island and highlight seasonal flavors.
This translation cracked me up! The smells that are already coming from the kitchen! Whoever tried the borscht yesterday will want more of it today. And a good venison stew always makes the working day better!
I asked Elder G if s/he could translate the menu into English, based on an image of the menu from into English. I was amazed – Elder G combined OCR and Estonian-to-English.
Elder G: Absolutely—this is a fantastic menu. Estonia does that wonderful thing where everything sounds both rustic and quietly refined. I’ll translate it section by section so you can “order with confidence” (a powerful feeling anywhere, but especially in a foreign land).
Hiiumaa Pruulikoda Resto — Menu (English Translation)
Appetizers (Ampsud)
Smoked fish (ask for today’s selection) – 6
Smoked meat (ask for today’s selection) – 6
Crispy garlic breads with herb mayo (V) – 8
French fries with parmesan and truffle mayo – 9
Crispy chicken with garlic mayo – 9
Brewery pâté with house bread, onion jam & red onion marmalade – 10
Lighter Dishes (Kergemad road)
Cold-smoked fish “kadakaräimed” (juniper-flavored Baltic herring) with seaweed bread and egg cream – 10
