Julius Kaljuvee, Ivan Reinwald, and Estonian pioneering ideas on meteorite impacts and cosmic neocatastrophism in the early 20th century

Abstract

-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 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. Reinwaldt; 1878-1941. En tant qu'éducateur actif spécialisé en géosciences, Kaljuvee a été le premier à émettre l'hypothèse qu'en 1922, le cirque du lac Kaali, sur l'île de Saaremaa, en Estonie, a été créé par l'impact d'une météorite. Grâce à l'ingénieur minier Reinwald, cette hypothèse a été acceptée depuis 1928 en raison des travaux de terrain et de forage exhaustifs de cette dernière (également à la suite de l'exploration de plusieurs chercheurs allemands, dont le célèbre Alfred Wegener). L'origine d'impact de la structure de Kaali a été prouvée finalement en 1937 par la découverte d'éclats de fer météoritiques (en tant que premier site européen). Reinwald était non seulement un chercheur exceptionnel du processus de cratérisation des météorites, mais aussi un propagateur couronné de succès des découvertes estoniennes dans la science anglophone dominante des années 1930. En outre, dans son livre de 1933, Kaljuvee a *Corresponding author: racki@us.edu.pl †Deceased ...

In search of historical roots of the meteorite impact theory: Franz von Paula Gruithuisen as the first proponent of an impact cratering model for the Moon in the 1820s

“…Similar unrealistic impact signatures on the Earth's surface were still being recurrently proposed even in the 20th century (Kaljuvee ; Gallant ; Kelly ; see review in Racki et al. ).…”

“…However, in later interpretations, many of the giant ring-like terrestrial structures were discussed by Gruithuisen (1844Gruithuisen ( , 1845 and Meydenbauer (1890Meydenbauer ( , 1906b as huge cosmic scars. Similar unrealistic impact signatures on the Earth's surface were still being recurrently proposed even in the 20th century (Kaljuvee 1933;Gallant 1964;Kelly 1985; see review in Racki et al 2018b). Two supplementary aspects of the Gruithuisen impact theory are very distinctive from the recent viewpoint, but need more detailed study.…”

“…However, there was still a rather limited distribution of these pro-impact ideas on the periphery of mainstream science, perhaps mostly due to the language barrier (see Maher 1998;Racki et al 2014Racki et al , 2018aRacki et al , 2018b. The next advancement stage and a preliminary implantation of the outstanding meteorite explosion and crater model in the mainstream science took place in the 1920s and 1930s, especially thanks to the works of Gifford (1924) and Spencer (1932), despite earlier hot discussions around the puzzling crater-like "Coon Mountain" (now "Meteor Crater") in Arizona (see Hoyt 1987;Mark 1987;Powell 2015).…”