{"id":65684,"date":"2026-04-05T10:28:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=65684"},"modified":"2026-04-05T10:32:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:32:03","slug":"estonias-kardla-meteor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=65684","title":{"rendered":"Estonia’s K\u00e4rdla Meteorite"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Long before dinosaurs, before forests, even before WLBOTT<\/strong> instituted its Work\/Life Balance<\/strong> program, there was The Meteorite<\/em>. This is before Estonia was even in the northern hemisphere!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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K\u00e4rdla <\/strong>(also K\u00e4rdla astrobleme) is a meteorite crater near the town of K\u00e4rdla in Estonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its formation has been associated with the breakdown of 100km asteroid.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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A Park for the Meteor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Estonians built a 1\/100th<\/sup> outdoor scale model of the K\u00e4rdla crater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Model field of K\u00e4rdla meteoride crater<\/strong>
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 K\u00e4rdla 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.<\/p>\nVisit Estonia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A commentator on Trip Advisor<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/em> – Trip Advisor<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some Time Units<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Our WLBOTT<\/strong> 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”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ma = mega-annum. 1 Ma = 1 million years<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also pairs nicely with related units:<\/p>\n\n\n\n