Abstract— Impact and geothermal modeling was performed to explain hydrothermal alteration in a 4 km marine complex crater at Kärdla, Estonia. The impact modeling was used to simulate the formation of the crater and the post‐impact temperature distribution in crater environment. The geothermal modeling accounted for coupled heat transfer and multi‐phase fluid flow in a variably saturated medium. The modeling results suggest that strong convective fluid flow was initiated. During the first stage, the cooling was rapid due to the effect of the latent heat of vaporization, which efficiently decreased the temperature to the boiling point. The modeling results are consistent with geological observations.

The current case study presents results of the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) profiling at one of the Saadjärve drumlin field interstitial troughs, the Rahivere bog, eastern Estonia. The study was conducted in order to identify the bog morphology, and the thickness and geometry of the peat body. The method was also used to describe the applicability of GPR in the evaluation of the peat deposit reserve as the Rahivere bog belongs among the officially registered peat reserves. Fourteen GPR profiles, ~ 100 m apart and oriented perpendicular to the long axis of the depression, covering the bog and its surrounding areas, were acquired. In order to verify the radar image interpretation as well as to evaluate the velocity of electromagnetic waves in peat, a common source configuration was utilized and thirteen boreholes were drilled on the GPR profiles. A mean value of 0.036 m ns^–1 corresponding to relative dielectric permittivity of 69.7 was used for the time–depth conversion. Radar images reveal major reflection from the peat–soil interface up to a depth of about 4 m, whereas drillings showed a maximum thickness of 4.5 m of peat. Minor reflections appear from the upper peat and mineral soil. According to the borehole data, undecomposed peat is underlain by decomposed one, but identifying them by GPR is complicated. Mineral soil consists of glaciolimnic silty sand in the peripheral areas of the trough, overlain by limnic clay in the central part. The calculated peat volumes (1 200 000 m³) were found to exceed the earlier estimation (979 000 m³) that was based solely on drilling data. Ground-penetrating radar, as a method that allows mapping horizontal continuity of the sub-peat interface in a non-destructive way, was found to provide detailed information for evaluating peat depth and extent.

Stoichiometric troilite (FeS) is a common phase in differentiated and undifferentiated meteorites. It is the endmember of the iron sulfide system. Troilite is important for investigating shock metamorphism in meteorites and studying spectral properties and space weathering of planetary bodies. Thus, obtaining coarse‐grained meteoritic troilite in quantities is beneficial for these fields. The previous synthesis of troilite was achieved by pyrite or pyrrhotite heating treatments or chemical syntheses. However, most of these works lacked a visual characterization of the step by step process and the final product, the production of large quantities, and they were not readily advertised to planetary scientists or the meteoritical research community. Here, we illustrate a two‐step heat treatment of pyrite to synthesize troilite. Pyrite powder was decomposed to pyrrhotite at 1023–1073 K for 4–6 h in Ar; the run product was then retrieved and reheated for 1 h at 1498–1598 K in N₂ (gas). The minerals were analyzed with a scanning electron microscope, X‐ray diffraction (XRD) at room temperature, and in situ high‐temperature XRD. The primary observation of synthesis from pyrrhotite to troilite is the shift of a major diffraction peak from ~43.2°2θ to ~43.8°2θ. Troilite spectra matched an XRD analysis of natural meteoritic troilite. Slight contamination of Fe was observed during cooling to troilite, and alumina crucibles locally reacted with troilite. The habitus and size of troilite crystals allowed us to store it as large grains rather than powder; 27 g of pyrite yielded 17 g of stochiometric troilite.

The shore displacement and palaeogeography of the Pärnu Bay area, eastern Baltic Sea, during the Stone Age, were reconstructed using sedimentological and archaeological proxies and GIS-based landscape modelling. We discovered and studied buried palaeochannel sediments on the coastal lowland and in the shallow offshore of the Pärnu Bay and interpreted these data together with previously published shore displacement evidence. The reconstructed relative shore-level (RSL) curve is based on 78 radiocarbon dates from sediment sequences and archaeological sites in the Pärnu Bay area and reported here using the HOLSEA sea-level database format. The new RSL curve displays regressive water levels at −5.5 and −4 m a.s.l. before the Ancylus Lake and Litorina Sea transgressions, respectively. According to the curve, the total water-level rise during the Ancylus Lake transgression (10.7–10.2 cal. ka BP) was around 18 m, with the average rate of rise about 35 mm per annum, while during the Litorina Sea transgression (8.5–7.3 cal. ka BP), the water level rose around 14 m, with average rate of 12 mm per annum. During the short period around 7.8–7.6 cal. ka BP, the RSL rose in Pärnu, but probably also in Samsø (Denmark), Blekinge (Sweden) and Narva-Luga (NE Estonia–NW Russia), faster than the concurrent eustatic sea level calculated from the far-field sites. The palaeogeographic reconstructions show the settlement patterns of the coastal landscape since the Mesolithic and provide new perspective for looking Mesolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer settlement sites on the banks of the submerged ca. 9000 years old river channel in the bottom of the present-day Pärnu Bay.

The Geological Base Map (GBM), presenting an elongated buried valley running beneath the Varudi bog, triggered the geophysical studies near Viru-Nigula borough in northeastern Estonia. After the Geological Survey of Estonia had compiled the GBM map set, the course and extent of the valley still remained indistinct. Principally the morphology of the Varudi valley had been determined just by one borehole characterizing the 30 m thick Quaternary succession within the valley. The thickness of Quaternary sediments is, however, just a few metres in adjacent boreholes. We used ground-penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) for acquiring extra knowledge about the extent and morphology of the Varudi structure. Ground-penetrating radar enabled us to specify the thickness and composition of Quaternary deposits, and to recognize dislocations of the bedrock blocks. As the radar images provided information on the topmost ~4 m only, ERT (Wenner and Wenner–Schlumberger arrays) was applied to define deeper, down to 40 m, electrical resistivity anomalies. The ERT studies revealed two fracture zones where regular Ordovician carbonate beds have been crushed and replaced by Quaternary sediments. The Varudi valley coincides with the southern zone. Both fracture zones probably acted as groundwater flow channels and sediment pathways in the Late Pleistocene, and hence supported the creation of the Varudi bog.