Simuna crater

to map

01. June 1937

On June 1, 1937, the inhabitants South-Eastern Estonia were witness to a unique natural occurrence - the flight of a bright bolide. The crater is 8,5 m wide and 1,9 m deep. A layer of humus under the wall and the placement of particles on it indicate that it is indeed a crater.
The berm shows a typical order of materials: on the top of the buried layer of soil lie larger rocks and pebbles. The upper part of the berm is made up of fine sand. Simuna crater could be one of the few known meteorite craters, formed during the lifetime of a generation still alive.

Simuna crater (Pirrus and Tiirmaa, 1991). On the morning of June 1, 1937 a bolide was seen (angle of dip 259o) approaching approximately at a 60 degree angle from the east. It exploded around 28 km in the air, east of Viru-Roela. Astrophysicist A. Kipper immediately set out to search for the fallen pieces. Regardless of careful search and inquiring the locals, he was unable to find traces of neither the meteorite pieces nor of their craters. In 1984, a local history-enthusiast Ross, announced the find of an indentation at Orbuse, near Simuna. The dent was 8,5 m wide and 1,9 m deep, surrounded by a berm of 20 - 25 cm. Pirrus and Tiirmaa assumed it to be of the meteorite fallen in 1937. No meteoric substance has been found in the crater, and it is listed as a meteoric structure due to its structural properties (a crater created by explosion). Though no local witnesses to the creation of the crater have been found, there are witnesses who claim it was formed in the summer of 1937. A rowantree at the base of the crater showed the same approximate age.




Choose stories



  • ajalooline
  • kivid
  • ring