The article comprehensively presents little known Estonian contribution to the recognition of
first meteorite impact structures in Europe, related to works of Julius Kaljuvee (Kalkun; 1869–1940) and
Ivan Reinwald (Reinwaldt; 1878–1941). As an active educator specialized in geoscience, Kaljuvee was the
first to hypothesize in 1922 that Kaali lake cirque in Saaremaa Island, Estonia, was created by meteorite
impact. Thanks to mining engineer Reinwald, this assumption was accepted since 1928 due to the
exhaustive field and borehole works of the latter (also as a result of exploration by several German scholars,
including renowned Alfred Wegener). The impact origin of Kaali structure was proved finally in 1937 by
finding of meteoritic iron splinters (as the first European site). Reinwald was not only outstanding
investigator of meteorite cratering process, but also successful propagator of the Estonian discoveries in
Anglophone mainstream science in 1930s. In addition, in his 1933 book, Kaljuvee first highlighted an
impact explanation of enigmatic Ries structure in Bavaria, as well as probable magmatic activation in distant
regions due to “the impulse of a giant meteorite”. He also outlined ideas of the inevitable periodic cosmic
collisions in geological past (“rare event” theory nowadays), and resulting biotic crises. In a general
conceptual context, the ideas of Kaljuvee were in noteworthy direct or indirect link with concepts of the
great French naturalists – Laplace, Cuvier and Élie de Beaumont. However, some other Kaljuvee’s notions,
albeit recurrent also later in geoscientific literature, are queer at the present time (e.g., the large-body impact
as a driving force of continental drift and change the Earth axis, resulting in the Pleistocene glaciation).
Thus, the Kaljuvee thought-provocative but premature dissertation is rather a record of distinguishing
erudite activity, but not a real neocatastrophic landmark in geosciences history. Nevertheless, several
concepts of Kaljuvee were revived as the key elements in the current geological paradigm
