Treasures of the Baltic Sea - Stones and Rocks - Discover Exciting Natural Secrets

7/23/2019 Treasures of the Baltic Sea - Stones and Rocks - Discover Exciting Natural Secrets

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Discover Exciting Natural Secretsstones and rocks

treasuresof the Baltic sea

castles andmuseums

stonesand rocks

forest

red Brickgothic

natural and cultural

heritage tourism

for increased Baltic

sea region identity

shiftingsand dunes


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Discover Exciting Natural Secretsstones and rocks

treasuresof the Baltic sea


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4editorial

Dear readers,

what comes into your mind when you thinko the Baltic Sea Region: endless beaches,sand dunes, birch orests, castles and churchesor even amber? Countries around the BalticSea share a great variety o natural and culturalresources as well as a long common history.The area, however, is still not well recognised asone common region outside its borders. In theramework o the EU-unded project AGORA 2.0we aim to improve the common identity o theBaltic Sea Region, based on its rich natural andcultural treasures.

The ve issues o the Treasures o the BalticSea are our appetisers or you to raise yourawareness o the unique beauty o the Baltic SeaRegion by telling exciting stories and providingshort background inormation at a glancethat make you eel like visiting the region.This issue will bring the ascinating world oStones in the Baltic Sea Regioncloser to you.

Dipl. oec. Betina MelissEditor

University o GreiswaldInstitute o Geography and GeologyMakarenkostrae 2217487 Greiswald

on +49 (0) 3834 / [email protected]

Photos:RalfScheibe


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EditorialContent

I stones could tell ...Rock TypesThe Ice AgeThe postglacial history o the Baltic Sea RegionRocks and Human BeingsMap

The High Coast in Northeast Sweden (Sweden)Fjords in Sweden (Sweden)The Mountains o Lapland (Sweden)Archipelago Sea (Sweden/ Finland)The Estonian Klint (Estonia)Rocky White Clis (Germany/ Denmark)Fr The Island o Natural Rock Sculptures (Sweden)How do rocks inuence the environment? (Poland)Solitary Rocks (Baltic Sea Region)Cup-Marked Stones in Estonia (Estonia)Stone Barrows in Jelhtme (Estonia)The Bronze Age Burial Site o Sammallahdenmki (Finland)Rock Carvings o Tanum (Sweden)Baltic Amber (Baltic Sea Region)The Great Copper Mountain in Falun (Sweden)Fieldstone Churches (Germany)Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki (Finland)Rock & Art (Germany)

The Cave o Retretti (Finland)Flint and Belies (Germany)Cairns everywhere (Baltic Sea Region)Where can we learn more about rocks?

Touristic InormationImprint

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Stones have their own language; theirpool o inormation has to be translated orthe ordinary Joe. Furthermore, it is neces-sary to develop an own antasy to becomeaware o the stones in the landscape, ingravel pits or in historical buildings aswitnesses o the history.Rocks are the memory o the earthshistory. For example, stones in northernSweden appear like in an open win-dow without any coverage o youngersediments and tell us the history o theearths crust consolidation with volcanoes,solidication o magma and re-melting,geochemical exchange o substances rommineral to mineral, but also o early phaseso dryness, deserts, ice coverage, traces oglaciers and sedimentation millionyears beore the well known ice agemoved material rom Scandinavia tothe southern coast o the Baltic Sea.For human beings rocks have been a boonand bane. Rocks and stones have beenused or construction and or tools up to

now, but they hamper the daily lie, too.The smooth rock suraces without any soilcoverage and agricultural use ruled out thesettlement o ancient people; rocks inthe landscape have been obstaclesand dangers until today.Rocks reect the eternity. Thus, it is notsurprising that stones play an outstandingrole or prehistoric (and also contempo-rary) religion and as burial places. Nowa-days these locations are signs o beautyand creativity, but also o hidden secrets.

if stonescould tell ...

iGneous rocKs

are formed by cooling andsolidication o magma or lava

plutonic rocks (e.g. granite)

developed very slowly inthe earths crust; typical arecoarse-grained structureswith minerals which can beidentied with the naked eye

volcanic rocks (e.g. basalt)

developed on the surace othe earth; they have a ne-grained

structure with (sometimes) isolatedminerals

typical are silicate minerals

o various types and contento silicium dioxide: quartz,eldspar, mica, biotite

the diVersitY of rocKsRocks are solid aggregates o one or more minerals which can be classied by chemicalcomponents, texture and particle size. Three major groups o rocks are denedby several geological processes: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks each with typical eatures as explained below.

B s r b !

sedimentarY rocKs

are transported by wind, water, ice,and animals

are deposited by the inuence

o gravitation or chemical precipitationo solutions

are compacted by overlying sediments

and solidied by chemical processesbetween the grains (cementation bysilicium dioxide, carbonates or salt)

can be identied by means of grain size

classes, typical patterns o layers andthe chemistry (e.g. silicates in sandstones,carbonates in limestones)

only sedimentary rocks contain fossils

rom bacteria up to mammoths

have been the base for relative dating

and the rst geological time tableby using biostratigraphy


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metamorPhic rocKs

are the consequence of the secondaryinuence o heat and pressureon igneous and sedimentary rocksby sinking down into lower partso the earths crust or the uppermantle (e.g. in subduction zones)or the proximity o volcanicand plutonic rocks

show mostly typical textures (layers,

eyes) overlaying the older structures

show typical associations of high

temperature and high pressureminerals ( indicator minerals)by migration and reorganizationo chemical compounds (e.g. clayminerals with crystal water are driedand compacted to new minerals)

never contain fossils


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Granite from Bornholm(igneous rock, very common in Skandinavia)

From the collection o the Geological Museum

o University o Szczecin, Poland.

Igneous rocks are ormed by the solidica-tion or cooling o magma in the depths o

the earth's crust (intrusive rocks) or o lavaon the surace o the earth (extrusive rocks).Intrusive rocks include magmas that wereonce injected into the upper part o thecrust, where they have cooled and solidi-ed gradually. Crystal structures are largeand clearly visible to the eye (e.g. granite).Extrusive igneous rocks include volcaniclava and ash that have been ejected to thesurace o the earth. Such magmas coolrapidly and lose their gases, so that crystalstructures are oten not visible to the

human eye (e.g. basalt). Igneous rocks can

igneousrocks

also be subdivided into acidic and basictypes. The acidic igneous rocks are rich in

quartz and potash eldspars (e.g. granite)while the basic igneous rocks have a lowamount o silica and are typically rich iniron and magnesium (e.g. basalt, gabbro).Currently, there are no active volcanoes inthe Baltic Sea Region. All the igneous rocksoriginate rom ancient geological periodsand are testimonies to the old processesthat have taken place in this area. Geolo-gists detected more than 700 varieties oigneous rocks such as granites, basalts,rhyolites, porphyrys or gabbros. The most

recognizable igneous rock in the Baltic Sea

raPaKiVi GraniteFrom the collection o the Geological Museum


Region is the Scandinavian granite. Thestructure o granite clearly shows dierent

crystals. Scandinavian granite is not homo-geneous. It diers in chemical composition,color and size o the minerals. A character-istic type o granite in this region is graniterapakiwi (Finnish: rapakivi - rotten stone).Granite rapakiwi consists o large reddishcrystals o potassium eldspar, surroundedby a greenish outline o oligoclase andquartz. Rapakiwi mainly occur in south-western Finland but also in Sweden, landand in the north-west o Russia. In theMiddle Ages, it was used to build churches

on the land Islands.

Photos:MartaArent-Nieradka,KarolNieradka

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Sedimentary rocks are composed owaste products o older rocks or remains

o ormer organisms. They are ormed bythe accumulation o material carried byexogenic actors like water or wind. Popularsedimentary rocks are limestone, dolomite,quartz, int, gypsum, sandstone, coal butalso petroleum and sand. Yes, sand is alsoa rock! Sedimentary rocks like limestoneand sandstone can contain ossils. Fossilsare the remains o plants or animals thatran through the ossilization process,which turned them into a stone. Parts oorganisms such as shells and bones are

ossilized most commonly. Fossils provide

sedimentaryrocks

inormation on the appearance o theprimeval ora and auna and are only

a eature o sedimentary rocks.Limestone is a typical sedimentary rock inthe landscape o the Baltic Sea Region andcan especially be ound in Estonia and onthe Swedish islands land and Gotland.Limestone is composed o calcium carbon-ate usually in the orm o a mineral calledcalcite. Many limestones consist o skeletalragments o marine organisms such ascommon marine plankton species or corals.Limestones rom the Baltic Sea area aremainly rom the Paleozoic era and so they

are much younger than the granites rom

Scandinavia. Estonian limestone wasormed approximately 450 million years

ago during the Ordovician and the Silurianperiod. Sediments were accumulated onthe at bottom o the Paleobaltic Sea.Flints can also be ound in the Baltic SeaRegion. Flint is a hard, semi-crystalline, sili-ceous sedimentary rock that can be black,dark brown and sometimes also livid andwhite. Its main ingredient is silica. Flints aremostly ormed by the mineral chalcedony.It occurs in the orm o nodules in nonsilicasedimentary rocks such as limestone, marl,chalk. Sometimes they contain silicied

ossils o various organisms.

Limestone with ossils o orthoceras ound at the ooto Wolin Clif, Poland. Limestone is a sedimentary rock,

very common especially in Estonia. From the collection o

the Geological Museum o University o Szczecin, Poland.

Fossils o trilobite extracted rom boulder ound at the oot

o Wolin Clif. The Baltic Sea Region is a good place or ossil

hunters. From the collection o the Geological Museum


Limestone clif on Pakiri Peninsula, Estonia

(The green colour in one layer comes rom

the mineral glauconite)


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Dolomite rocks near the Kaali crater on Saarema Island, Estonia.

Photos:1-PhotoInternetsource.Publicdomain,2,3-MartaA

rent-Nieradka,KarolNieradka.

Fossils o belemnite rom Rgen,

Germany. From the collection

o the Geological Museum


Flint, sedimentary rocks are

common at the oot o the White

Clifs on Rgen Island, Germany.

Flints have accompanied humans or avery long time, or example as huntingtools. Amber is also sometimes classiedas a sedimentary rock. Amber is a quiteunusual stone, as rom the geological pointo view it is a succinate. Baltic amber is anorganic substance-ossilized resin, whichwas established under natural conditionsat least 40 million years ago. The resin

owed out rom injuries and ractures ostems and branches o trees. Amber can beo yellowish color to various shades.It occurs mainly along the southern shoreso the Baltic Sea, especially in Poland andin Russia. The world's largest amber minecan be ound on Sambia Peninsula (Sam-land), Russia. Sometimes amber containsinclusions in the orm o well-preservedanimal and plant organisms. Amber is usedin cosmetics, pharmaceutics, medicine andpreerably in jewelry.


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The third type o rock is the metamorphicone. It has undergone change bringing ina new crystal structure and new minerals.This process takes place below the suracedue to high pressure and high tempera-ture. Such metamorphism can aect allkinds o rocks igneous, sedimentary andother metamorphic rocks. In the course o

earth history, surace rocks have repeatedlybeen displaced downwards through crustaldeormation, exposing them to intensepressure and great heat. A metamorphosiscan also result rom permeation o a rockby gases or uids rom adjacent magmasor by mineral-bearing groundwater. Someexamples o metamorphic rocks are gneiss,slate, marble, schist and quartzite.Some metamorphics represent sedimen-tary rocks that have been compacted andsubjected urther to recrystallization. Shale,

or instance, is changed into a hard rock

metamorphicrocks

a slate. Slate is used or roos, shingles andoor stone. Similarly, limestone is recrystal-lized into marble. Sandstone and conglom-erates may be permeated with silica toorm remarkably tough quartzites. A moreintensive change will produce rocks thatare oten dicult to relate to their originalsource. Schist is largely composed o clay

minerals and mica set in a characteristic,ne, waery structure known as a oliation.Gneiss, typical o the Baltic Region, resem-bles granite in its overall composition. Theminerals are all elongated in parallel linesgiving the rock a lineated structure. This isdue to the eects o temperature and highpressure. The resistance o metamorphicrocks diers in minerology, compaction orcementation. Slate and quartzite are ratherdurable and produce stony soil o limitedertility. Marble, on the other hand, is as

soluble as limestone.

The recrystallization o minerals that takesplace during metamorphosis generallydestroys the layout o minerals and jointsystems so that marble or quartzite mayshow no visible stratication. In some rocksree spaces inside are lled with secondaryminerals such as quartz.A special kind o metamorphic rocks is

ormed as a result o lightnings or meteor-ite impacts. The impacts were accompa-nied by a rapid increase o temperature andpressure. These phenomena ended in aast melting and evaporation o the meteorand local surace rocks. The result o thisprocess was the creation o unique rockswith new minerals. For example, Breccia orulgurite belong to the impact metamor-phic rocks.We can nd all kinds o rocks igneous,sedimentary and metamorphic in the

Baltic Sea Region.

Gneiss rom Scandinavia (the efects o pressure and high

temperature are visible.) From the collection o the Geological

Museum o University o Szczecin, Poland.

Metamorphic rocks in Sweden.

Metamorphic rocks are very common eatureso the Swedish landscape.

Photos:1-MartaArent-Nieradka,KarolNieradka,2,3-MartaA

rent-Nieradka


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theice age

Perhaps it is hard to imagine, but a largepart o Northern Europe was coveredby a warm shallow sea in its geologicalpast. This took place during the Palaeo-gene, about 23 million years ago, whichis considered young in geology. The seawas replaced by swamps. In the ollowinggeological periods a well-developed net-work o rivers was created. The presenceo these rivers was very important or theshape o today's Baltic basin and or theaccumulation o amber. Meanwhile,climate had cooled down constantly.

In periods o colder climate huge amountso snow accumulated so that the snowwas transormed into ice under the weighto the successive layers. Glaciers rst orm-ed in the Scandinavian Mountains, andthen they occupied large areas o North-ern and Central Europe. Ice sheets alter-nately melted and could also spread outto the south. This was closely related tochanges in the climate conditions. Meltingice sheets caused a rise o the water levelsin the global ocean during interglacials.

The last ice sheet reached the present Bal-

h B s r?

Rocks rom the Scandinavia were trans-

ported southwards by the glacier. (King

Boulder rom gray-pink granite, Poland.)

Ice mass o one o the contemporary

Scandinavian glacier

Photos:MartaArent-Nieradka

tic Sea area around 22,000 years ago. Thisresulted in a complete change o the relieo Northern and Central Europe ormed bythe previous glacier ac tivities.For the Baltic Sea Region glaciations inPleistocene were very important or thepresent appearance o the landscape.The moving very heavy masses o ice hadenormous destructive power. The move-ment o the glacier resulted in the destruc-tion o bedrock and ormed today's BalticSea basin. On the other hand, glacierslet deposits like till, sand and land orms

such as moraines, sandurs, kame or eskers.The Baltic Sea Region is a great place toobserve these orms. A well-known place,where tourists can see the glacial orms, isGeopark Rokua in Finland with drumlins,moraines, terminal moraines, esker ridges,kettle holes, ancient shorelines, dunes,ravines and bogs. Another good place toobserve the activities o the glaciers is theLaponian Area in Sweden, which becamea Geological Heritage Site o UNESCO in1996.


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Kopenhagen

Stockholm

Helsinki

Tallinn

Riga

Gdansk

Berlin

3000 m

2000 m

St. Petersburg

1000 m

In the ice masses o the glacier many rockswere transported away rom the Scandina-vian Peninsula. These rocks were depos-ited in the European lowlands. This leadsto the act that you can nd big rocks at

the Baltic coastline that originally camerom Sweden, Finland or even Norway!Among these erratics there are all maintypes o rocks: igneous, metamorphic andsedimentary rocks. The presence o theseboulders in the region is one o the prooso the existence o large masses o iceduring the Pleistocene.

Erratics are observed in the Baltic SeaRegion or example at the oot o theWolin Cli in Midzyzdroje, Orlowski Cli

in Gdynia, the clis in the area o Pajurisin Lithuania, Jurkalne Cli and VeczemeCli in Latvia or on the Lahemaa coast inEstonia. The accumulation o boulders atthe oot o clis is considered as geologi-cal open air museums where it is possibleto learn more about rocks. Erratics alsooccur oshore.

w b ?

thicKness of the ice coVeraGedurinG the last Glacial Period


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the postglacial historyof the Baltic sea region

The Quaternary period shows climateuctuations (in temperature and precipi-tation), and since 15,000 years the climatehas become warmer (Holocene). Reasonsor this development are changes in theglobal circulation, the changing positiono continents and the human inuence(green house gas emission). But the climateat the end o the Weichselian period hasnot changed abruptly. The glaciers retreat-ed step by step over thousands o years;the glaciers in Norway (e.g. Jostedalsbreen)are relicts o the Pleistocene ice sheet.The Holocene climate change has causedseveral general eects: the eustatic riseo the sea level caused by molten water,the isostatic land uplit and changes inecosystems including direct and indirectanthropogenic inuences.The eustatic and isostatic movements

caused the development o todays land-sea pattern, but it has developed stepby step. Within the last 12,000 years theBaltic Sea has changed rom a reshwaterice lake without any gaps to the Atlanticocean to the contemporary continental seawith narrow contact zones to the ocean.The sea level rise has occurred by leapsand bounds. Periods o more resh watercharacter alternated with those o moremarine (salt water) inuence depending onthe gaps to the ocean. The Littorina trans-

gression with a sea level rise o more than

20 m within 1000 years is the most remark-able phase. It had a signicant inuenceon the ancient people who settled in thecoastal area. The traditional settlementswere ooded; the people were orced togive up their villages.The rising sea level had an importantinuence on the coastline too. The patterno moraine hills, glacial lakes and rivermouths at the southern Baltic Sea coasthad changed as well as the rocky coastso Scandinavia.

coastal erosionOscillating sea levels, waves and currentserode the coasts, especially in wintertimes. The loamy and sandy clis o mo-raine material are particularly vulnerable.The coastline o Cape Arcona (Isle oRgen) shows the decline o a Slavonic

temple and ortress only a ourth o thering wall still exists.

accumulation of materialCoastal currents transport the erodedmaterials. Depending on the direction andorce o the currents, sand is depositedat coastal margins, like the northern tip othe Darss peninsula or the Isle o Usedom.Sometimes the higher parts o sandbarriers are the origin o coastal dunes.Long sandy peninsulas like the Curonian

Spit have separated shallow water areas

(here: Courland lagoon) with typical resh-water ecosystems. The Hel peninsula couldbe the intermediate step or the next spitseparating the Bay o Gdansk.

fJordsFjords are typical o rocky coasts. The longancient rivers in the southern Baltic Seacan be classied as fords, e.g. Schlei, Flens-burg Fjord, Kiel Fjord. These typical land-scapes were shaped by glacier tonguesand ooded by the rising water. The rockyfords are very deep with depths o morethan 1000 m. The northern German fordsare shallow with depths o not more than20 m.

sKerriesSkerries are also a typical eature o theBaltic Sea Region. The small hills at the

ormer intersection o glacier streams areat and mostly without any soil coverageand only the skerries close to the innercoastline are wooded. Skerries are typicallyconcentratd in archipelagos o skerries,e.g. the archipelago between Turku andStockholm including the lands or theskerries in western Sweden. Thousands oislands are beloved regions or shing andrecreation, but they hold a lot o obstaclesor navigation.

Photo:MartaAren

t-Nieradka

Cli on Wollin Island, Poland


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eXcursus: meteoritesin the Baltic sea reGion

Meteorites are extraterrestrial rockswhich survived the contact withthe earth. They endured the entry intothe atmosphere (visible as a reball)as well as the impact on the earthssurace. Only ew o the cosmic boul-ders reached the surace and shapedtypical craters.Most o meteorites derive rom smallerastronomical objects (meteoroids).Sometimes they are the result o thecollision o asteroids with other objects.Meteorites consist o stone (chon-drites); a small number o meteorites isa mixture o metals and stone; or puremetal (iron, nickel and alloy).Meteorite impacts played an outstand-ing role in the history, or example theextinction o lots o animal groupsbetween Cretaceous and Tertiary was

caused by a meteorite impact.Another example o historic times is theexplosion o the Tunguska-meteoritein Siberia in 1908. There are worldwideconcentrations o meteorite impacts,e.g. in the Antarctica, northern Americaand in the Sahara. The Baltic Sea Regionis not that amous or meteorites, butthe Siljan Lake in Sweden is the largestcrater in Europe.A remarkable example is the Kaalicrater at Saaremaa (Estonia) that will be

reerred to in the regional part o thisbrochure.


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rocKs as construction materialPeople used all kinds o local material to

construct huts and houses. Due to thestability o buildings erected with stones,rock has been the most important con-struction material or thousands o years.You can still see this at old churches.The oldest preserved buildings wereconstructed with eldstone sometimesunshaped rocks, sometimes hewn stones.Later, brick displaced the eld stones.

In rural areas armers needed to sepa-rate their elds and to ence the cattle in

green pastures. They used rocks or their

rocks andhuman Beingsr .v .

low ences. In villages and cities peoplemarked their gardens and properties with

stone ences.Another very important utilization oeldstones was the road construction.In the past, all roads were made o rocks.Nowadays it has been displaced by otherroad suraces (in particular concrete andtar). Cobblestone roads still exist or histor-ic and today or touristic reasons.These days big stones (boulders) are otenused or city designing purposes, or in-stance as a natural, robust and also cheapbarrier to prevent people rom going

everywhere by car.

rocKs as useful toolsand raW material

People learnt to hew stones and to makeuseul tools out o it. In the past, therewere tools or the daily work (e.g. int axesand even catapults) while we have startedto use stones or instance or massagesnowadays.

Furthermore, rocks are raw material orthings with representative purposes andmemorials. Statues and monuments orsimple rolls o honour are made o rocks.Artistic sculptures are also oten carved

in rocks.

Roll of

honourstatues,

monuments

sculptures

city design,street

furniture

buildings

fences

stoneaxestile

stoves

munitionfor

catapults

massage

stones

collecting

What are

stonesgood for?

as raw material

(feedstock)

as construction

material

landscape

as basis /

foundation

for entertainment,

leisure toolson

as (useful) tools

building

cairnstaking

pictures


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rocKs & tourismRocks are especially important or tourism.

They shape the landscape decisively andthey are the oundation everywhere;covered by soil; orming the relie anddetermining the dierences in elevation.Very oten you can see the rocks straight inthe landscape, in highlands and mountainareas, at the coastline and as huge singleboulders or countless small stones. Thesemaniold appearances lure tourists in greatnumbers.Stones are popular objects to be collectedin the nature and to be taken home as sou-

venirs. This is because o their nice colour,

their unny shape or even because peoplelike telling stories about the place where

they ound them. Sometimes even specichealing eects or other mystic powers areattributed to them.

There are various ways how people canspend time with stones, e.g. on vacation:

People like to collect stones and take

them home.

Many children like to paint the stones

or even to construct unny sculptures

with the stones.

Sometimes people start to through small

stones on the surace o the water.

This stone skipping you can observeeverywhere. Each country has its specicname or this. There are associationsdealing with stone skipping and evenchampionships. According to theGuinness Book o Records the worldrecord is 51 skips.

Tourists all over the world like

to build cairns.

Fieldstone church

P h o t o s : 1 - J e r z y A r e n t 2 5 - W i l h e l m S t e i n g r u b

e

3 6 - P h o t o : B e t i n a M e l i 4 - h t t p : / / e n w i k i p e d i a o r g / w i k i / F i l e : S t o n e s k i m m i n g - P a t a g o n i a - 9 M a r 2 0 1 0 j p g

Building cairns

Fences made o stones


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The High Coast in Northeast Sweden

Fjords in Sweden

The Mountains o Lapland

Archipelago Sea

The Estonian Klint

Rocky White Clis

Fr The Island o Natural Rock Sculptures

How do rocks inuence the environment?

Cup-Marked Stones in Estonia

Stone Barrows in Jelhtme

The Bronze Age Burial Siteo Sammallahdenmki

Rock Carvings o Tanum

Baltic Amber

The Great Copper Mountain in Falun

Fieldstone Churches

Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki

Rock & Art

The Cave o Retretti

Flint and Belies

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the high coast innortheast sweden

GeoloGical BacKGround: rocKsand the isostatic land uPliftThe port authorities, maritime organi-sations and the land measurement inthe north o Sweden and Finland havea problem: the coastline, dened by thesupralittoral line, moves rapidly.Consequently canals, waterways and portshave to be renewed at regular intervalsater 100200 years, and likewise the land

area grows continuously. The reason orthis trouble is the isostatic land uplit.To understand this phenomenon, weshould look back in the geological historyo the northern countries. The Scandina-vian Peninsula (including Finland) belongto the oldest part o Europe. The consoli-dation o the earths crust by processes osedimentation, volcanic eects, subduc-tion and metamorphosis ended more than1,500 Mio years ago. Only some volcanicareas (e.g. the Oslo area) and the western

part o Norway (part o the Caledonian

Mountains rom the late Palaeozoic era) areyounger. The earths crust is more than50 60 km thick. Thereore, that type ocrust is relatively stable and respondsslowly to pressure and tectonic stress.The land uplit has been well-known sincemediaeval times. But our ability to explainthese processes has improved continuous-ly with the knowledge about the geolo-gical construction o the earth and the

geophysical methodology or measuringgravitation and borderlines between thelayers o the earth (crust, mantle, core),including lithosphere and asthenosphere.The question is how to explain the uplit.The reason is the decreasing masses o icecoverage ater the end o the Pleistocene.The thickness o the ice mass was about3000 m, with the maximum height inthe area o the Gul o Bothnia.To explain the phenomenon o isostaticuplit ater the melting o the ice coverage,

the theory o George Airy perectly ts to

the acts. The brittle lithosphere swimson the surace o the uid asthenospherecorresponding to the Archimedean Prin-ciple. I the mass o the lithosphere grows(e.g. by an ice sheet), the lithosphere dips inmore deeply, and i the ice mass decreases,the lithosphere is buoying up again.The other theories o isostatic movement(like o John Henry Pratt and Felix AndriesVening-Meinesz) are more complicated and

no realistic keys or the explanation o thesituation in northern Scandinavia.

the current GeoloGical situa-tion of the hiGh coast areaThe High Coast (Hga Kusten) is a part othe coast o the Gul o Bothnia in north-ern Sweden between the municipalitiesHrnsand and rnskldsvik and it belongsto the Vsternorrlands district. A look atthe geological map shows very old rocks

most o them metamorphic stones o an

Photo:RalfScheibe


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sweden

STOCKHOLM

age o more than 1,700 Mio years, somesandstones, diabase and granites (Nordin-gr-Granite) are younger. Most o the rockshave the typical reddish colour causedby potash eldspar.The coastline has a length o 220 km.The fords and bights lie behind a chain oskerry islands, and in ront o these islandsis the deepest point o the Gul o Bothnia(293 m). But the key is in the coastal area at

the top o the mountains. In 285 m heightabove the sea level there is the coastline othe end o Pleistocene (9,000 years beorepresent). The distance between the ormerand the present coastline is only 3 km.The High Coast area has the highest landuplit in the world. Although the land uplithas become slower, the present increase isapproximately 8 mm per year.The High Coast area shows a lot o interest-ing geological and geographical eatures.Most o them belong to glacial and sub-

glacial processes caused by melting water

and the inuence o wind and waves onthe moraine material:

Eskers are long, stratied ridges of sand

and gravel and the result o water move-ment in glacial crevasses or sub-glacialchannels. Nowadays eskers are coveredwith vegetation and are sometimesconused with railway dams.

If moraines are washed out by waves,

beds o debris and boulders remain. Suchareas are not only at the present sea level,but also in more than 200 meters heightand witnesses o past storm events.

The Sltterdalskrevan is a former diabase

dyke and now a canyon with 40-meterhigh walls and a length o 200 meters. Itwas probably shaped by uent water andthe rapid weathering o the less resistantdiabase rock.

The Stockholmsgatan is also a canyon,

but shaped only by uent water below

the glacier. It has a length o 1.5 km and

is 30 m high. Typical o the Stockholms-gatan area are glacier mills o up to 4 mdepth and some caves.

Deltas from past and present times show

the broad variety o sedimentation byuent water under the specic climaticconditions.

Meanders are typical for the young river

network and also a result o the inuenceo the climate o past and present time.

More than 25 caves even in the directneighbourhood o rnskldsvik havedeveloped in geological crevasses orby alling boulders.

other nature attractionsNot only or geologists, but also orbiologists the High Coast area is ascinat-ing because o the maniold ecosystems.Interestingly, the amous botanist Carl Lin-naeus visited the High Coast area in 1732

and remarked the unique landscape.

Skuleskogen Nationalpark NaturumPhotos:RalfScheibe

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The coastline consists o various types osandy and rocky beaches with typical plantsocieties. Sometimes plants o alpine typeslike the Alpine Pink and Stonecrop grow onthe hard rock plateaus. Typical o the sandbeaches are pioneer plants like the SeaSandwort and the Sea Pea or grasslandsin the hinterland o the young beaches.The peat bogs are oten o an oligotrophictype with ew species, but sometimes

the peat bogs are speciose in areas withdiabases and mussel shell banks with rockswith low resistance against weathering.Large areas covered with cotton grass,the snowball bush and various orchidsare typical there.The woods also show some anomalies.Here some species like the maple andthe limetree have the northern distributionboundary. The wood normally consists oEuropean spruce and sometimes the pinegrows at debris plateaus. The wet slopes

and the valleys are the most speciose

wood ecosystems o the High Coast area.The wood is home or wild animals likebrown bear, elk and lynx.

human imPacts and natureProtectionThe High Coast area and northern Swedenare not overcrowded. The populationconcentrates in the industrial agglomer-ations like Hrrnsand, rnskldsvik or

Sundsvall. But the attractive landscapeand the increasing demand or recreationunder nature conditions made an eectiveprotection necessary. Thereore, in 1984the Skuleskogen Nationalpark was esta-blished. It guarantees the protection andundisturbed development o the naturaland cultural landscape, but alsothe sustainable development o thetourism inrastructure. Additionally, theUNESCO inscribed the High Coast on theWorld Heritage List in 2000. The tourism

inrastructure contains the Naturum

(inormation centre near rnskldsvik) and30 km o marked hiking trails to nearly allattractions. There are several reuges orhiking tourists and mountain bikers witha ree access. The Skuleskogen NationalPark is easily accessible via the EuropeanHighway No. 4.

tourism and leisure actiVitiesThe region is not only a recreational area

or people rom northern Sweden, butit also attracts more and more touristsinterested in nature. The reasons areapparent: the potential o the natureor activities through the year, a goodinrastructure, ew restrictions, and a goodinormation system.A lot o good paths with various levels odi cultiy are available or mountain bikingand cycling. The season starts in May andends in September. The High Coast area isalso part o the national bicycle lane rom

Ystad to Haparanda. The High Coast is

The High Coast BridgePhoto:RalfScheibe


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an outstanding trekking area. Some o theold paths o the ancient locals are revi-talised or tourists and pass natural andcultural attractions like mills, churches andgeological points o interest. Similarly,these paths can also be used or horseriding. Due to the great nature the area othe paths is also interesting or orienteer-ing. The tourism o ces oer several spe-cial maps. Water is one important element

o the High Coast region and water sport,too. In spite o the higher latitude o theregion, the water in the inland lakes isnot cold during the summer.The clear water attracts not only peoplewho enjoy bathing, but also scuba divers.The coastal waters contain several interest-ing wrecks and are almost undiscovered.Some o the lakes, the rivers and the calmcoastal waterways are popular regions orcanoeing o every di culty level with calmrivers and wateralls. Canoeing is also

a good chance to enjoy the nature rom

a very special point o view. The contactto the unspoiled nature is very close.The lakes and coastal waters are reugesor more than 20 sh species which areattractive or hobby shing: salmon, trout,perch and pike are the most popularspecies. In summertime craysh can becaught. The joint craysh meal is very com-mon and gives tourists a chance to get incontact with domestic people. This chance

is also given or people who enjoy boating.They can choose between comortableyacht harbours and shermen settlementsor nature moorings.Finally, the High Coast region attractsskiers too. The tourism season does notend ater summer, but oers a wide net-work o prepared cross-country ski runsor or snowmobiles. The thick ice coverageo the lakes invites people to ice skate.With a backpack, long tours over severaldays are possible too.

sweden

Land uplit

contact

rnskldsviks Turistbyr,Lasarettsgatan 5 (Arken)891 33 [email protected]

Hrnsands TuristbyrStora Torget 2871 30 [email protected]

Naturum Hga KustenSkuleberget870 33 [email protected]

Photo:RalfScheibe

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Fjords are ascinating landscapes inNorway with steep rock walls o hundredso metres height, very long and deep(hundreds o metres again) inland water-ways with clear water and a breathtakingtransport inrastructure with tunnels andbridges. The Sogneford is probably thebest known example. The etymologicalorigin o the word ford is in Norway.But the ford landscapes seem to stop

mentally at the border between Norwayand Sweden. Is it the result o the change-over rom the North Sea to the Baltic Seawhich orms the coast o western Sweden?

GeoloGical and GeomorPholoGicBasicsFjords are results o complex geologicaland geomorphologic processes: ice move-ment, erosion by ice and melting water,sedimentation o moraines and nally therising water level ater the Pleistocene

were part o this process. The Scandina-

fJordsin sweden

vian Peninsula was covered with an icesheet during the Pleistocene time (theexisting glaciers in Norway are relics).While the ice sheet was mostly immobile,several glacier tongues stretched out,normally in times o cold, wet climate witha lot o precipitation and ice growth at thetop o the glaciers. The glacier tonguesmainly ollowed existing landscape struc-tures, but they had the orce to create new

ways and shapes.Erosion by ice can take several orms. Onthe one hand ice reezes up to the solidrocky ground and breaks out parts o therock when it becomes mobile (detraction).On the other hand the decay at the base othe glacier works as a tool and erodes thebasement i it is weaker (detersion). Finally,the end o the glacier tongue also workseectively and erodes older sediments inront o the glacier (exaration). The resultis a narrow valley with steep walls and a

U-shape, sometimes with a typical bedrock

bar. Due to the melting glaciers at the endo the Pleistocene, the water level roseaster than the isostatic land uplit oc-curred. Step by step most o the valleyswere ooded with water o the NorthSea with its direct contact to the AtlanticOcean or the Baltic Sea with its own stepso eustatic rise o the water level. Further-more, younger sediments accumulatedby ice and water changed the landscape

again. On the coast o western Swedenit happened pretty much the same. Indetail, there are some slight variations. Thelandscape has a more lovely shape withat slopes and smooth suraces o the rockparts. However, there are some fords inwestern Sweden with their own attractive-ness and important coastal waterways. Thelargest is the Gullmarsforden near Lysekilwith a length o 25 km and an averagedepth o 120 m. There is a urther networko fords between Uddevalla and Gteborg

(Stigford, Kalvford, Hakeford, Havstens-

Inner part o GullmarsfordPhoto:RalfScheibe


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ford) which separates the two islandsOrust and Tjrn.In western Sweden there are thousands osmall islands called skerries. Only the innerskerries near the mainland are coveredwith soil and vegetation. The outer skerriesare completely naked with a smoothsurace polished by the ice. Mostly, theskerries consist o gneiss and so does therest o the landscape.

human imPact oVer the centuriesHuman settlements in western Swedencan be traced back thousands o years ago.Hunters and gatherers ollowed the icemargin and settled at the coast as it hadbenets to live there (orests, sh).The at areas with soil coverage providedthe perect precondition or agriculture even though many problems emerged inthe past (ailure o crops etc.).Over the years the Swedish fords have

developed as gates to the hinterland.

Thus some o them had been protectedby ortresses. The Kunglv castle nearGteborg and the castle o Marstrand inthe skerries are attractive examples with animportance or tourism now. The Gtalvwith its mouth in Gteborg is the origin othe amous Gta Canal and the inrastruc-tural development in middle Sweden.Fishing and navigation have been the tra-ditional economic actors on the western

Swedish coast until today. Due to the goodaccessibility rom the shing grounds inthe northern Sea, several coastal harboursare still important places or manuactur-ing sh products like salmon, herringand cod.The traditional maritime economy hasundergone a transormation processtowards the tourism sector. The skerryarchipelago between Gteborg and theborder to Norway, but also the sandybeaches southward are the most impor-

tant recreational areas in Sweden with

their own tradition. Naturally, boating andshing are widespread hobbies there. Thenumber o boats and harbour mooringsare hardly countable. Some o the worldsmost important yacht manuactures havetheir roots on the island o Orust.The coastal waters are popular scubadiving destinations. The higher salinitycauses a biodiversity which is unusualor the Baltic Sea. Starshes, sea urchins,

sea squirts, cold water corals (dead mansngers) or kelp are typical o the shallowwater areas. The calm inland waterwaysallow dives also in autumn or wintertimes when the visibility is better than insummer. Another point that increases theattractiveness o scuba diving is the highnumber o mystical wrecks that are to bediscovered at the bottom o the sea.

KullabergBridge between Kungshamn and Smgen

Yacht harbour in Smgen

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h o t o s : R a l f S c h e i b e


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In northern Sweden beyond the ArcticCircle, the Laponian Area is located. Itcovers 9,400 km o land which makes itthe world's largest pristine mountainousnatural area. Up to 95% o it is protected inthe orm o national parks (Muddus, Sarek,Padjelanta and Stora Sjallet) and reserves(Sjaunja and Stubb). Since 1996 it has alsobeen a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This area is almost a textbook example ohow glaciers aect the appearance o themountains and how they interact with therocks. On the surace o the earth thereare very old rocks rom a time when lieon earth was primitive. In the east thereis a rather low area made up o very oldrocks rom the Archean era with an age o4,600 2,500 million years. In the west oLapland there are the Scandinavian Moun-tains, which were ormed in the early part

the mountainsof lapland

o the Paleozoic era (between 543 and 360million years ago). According to UNESCOinormation, the high alpine landscape oSarek and Stora Sjallet National Parkshas steep mountains, deep valleys andpowerul rivers. It is said to contain morethan 200 peaks over 1,800 m and about100 glaciers which had a major inuenceon shaping the landscape. Glacial eaturesinclude deep melt water canyons (kursu)

with nearly vertical walls over 100 m high,glacial cirques and channels, U-shapedvalleys, outwash plains (sandurs), tundrapolygons, boulder hollows, erratics,moraine ridges, drumlins, talus moundsand palsa bogs (rozen peat mounds).

Mountain glaciers are ormed above theso-called snow line were snowall is higherthan snow melt in its annual balance.There also needs to be a low average tem-

perature and hollows where snowcan accumulate. The snow is convertedinto rn or glacial ice under the weight othe upper mass. Glacial ice is oten pushedout o the hollow and a tongue o theglacier ows down the mountain,carving its shape. When it comes to themelting o the glaciers, or example dueto climate change, glacial cirques andU-shape valleys are let behind in the

mountains. His groove work is possiblebecause the glacier carries a lot o rocksat its bottom that scrub the surace o themountain.When a glacier retreats (regression) orstands still (stagnant glacier), melted waterrom the glacier washes the material locat-ed in the ice mass. Then, outwash plains(sandurs) are ormed. In Lapland there arealso boulders let behind by the retreatingglaciers. Retreating glaciers also let other

View rom Mothseretjhke mountain.Storuman Municipality, Lappland.

Photo:YngveNilsson(Source:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sytertoppen.jpg)


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orms made o sand and gravel, or examp-le ridges moraine and drumlins.

At the oot o the slopes o the mountainsthere can be seen mounds o talus. Theaccumulation o rocks took the orm o acone. Detachments o rocks are caused bythe orce o gravity and weathering. Thesemass movements are oten rapid and canbe dangerous or people.

In Lapland there are also countless lakes,wetlands, heaths, taigas and rivers. It isalso the place where Saami have livedsince prehistoric times. It is already one othe ew places in the world where peoplemigrate seasonally with their livestock.

P

hoto:1-YngveNilsson(Source:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F

ile:Sytertoppen-02.jpg),2-Photo:M.Arent-Nieradka,K.N

ieradka

Eastern side o South Sytertoppens mountain.Storuman Municipality. Lappland.

One o the Scandinavian mountain glacier.Visible are rocks polished by the glacier.

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The Archipelago Sea contains the largestcluster o islands in the world by numbero isles. There are 257 islands on over1 km2. I you count all smaller isles o over0.5 ha there are about 18,000 and i youinvolve also tiny skerries (rocks in the sea,which are too small or habitation) thereare probably at least 50,000 islands.This archipelago is located between theGul o Bothnia, the Gul o Finland and

the Sea o land and belongs to theFinnish territorial waters.Skerries are most commonly ormed at theoutlet o fords with submerged glaciallysculptured valleys. They have emergedrom the sea since the last ice age by theprocess o post-glacial rebound. This pro-cess is still going on with a rate o reboundbetween 4 and 10 mm per year and so oldisles are enlarging and new skerries areemerging very slowly .With a mean depth o 23 m the sea area

is shallow, too shallow or large ships.

archipelagosea

The islands are mainly made o graniteand gneiss. The small isles are treeless butprovide a unique and diverse environmentor wild and plant lie nevertheless.The constant wind and a thin or even non-existent soil layer limit the plant growth,which also limits the agricultural use.The larger islands are inhabited and con-nected by erries and bridges. The landIslands orm an autonomous region. It has

its own regional parliament with Swedishas its sole o cial language, even thoughthe province o land Islands belongs toFinland.This province generally enjoys a high stan-dard o living. Fishing and sh processingare the major industries. The archipelagois well-known or its Baltic herring andrainbow trout products. The ArchipelagoSea is a signicant tourist destinationbecause o its unique nature and lands-cape and the climate that is much more

avorable than in continental Finland.

stocKholm archiPelaGoThe second largest archipelago o theBaltic Sea is the Stockholm archipelago(Swedish: Stockholms skrgrd), whichextends rom Stockholm roughly 60 kmto the east.In this archipelago, a culture o armingand shing existed until the middle o lastcentury. Since then the youngergeneration has started to look or jobs in

the cities on the mainland. Today most othe small arms on the islands are closedand the sh industry has almost disap-peared. Now the archipelago is a popularholiday destination with some 50,000holiday cottages.

Aland IslandsStockholm Archipelago

Photos:1-RalfScheibe,2-WilhelmSteingrube,3-RalfScheibe

contact

www.visitaland.com

STOCKHOLM

HELSINKI

sweden/finland

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TALLINN

estonia

the estonianklint

The eastern and northern part o the BalticShield with its typical metamorphic andigneous rocks o archaic ages lies underyounger sedimentary rocks rom Paleozoictimes with a at angle o 2 to 3 degrees.Thereore, these layers appear in typicalscarped ridges. Some o the most impor-

tant ridges are made o limestone rom theOrdovician (Estonia, land) and Silurian(Gotland).The Estonian Klint zone stretches romthe island o Osmussaar to the Narva Riverand represents the older part o the lime-stone belt with its geological basement.The lower part is composed o Cambriansandstones and clay and only the upperpart rom Ordovician limestone containsa lot o ossils like the Orthoceras (cepha-lopods) with a diameter up to 6 cm and a

length o more than 80 cm.

The Cambrian clay layer (the typical blueclay) is still plastic despite its age o morethan 500 Million years. One special layer inthe Ordovician part is the Kukersite, an oilshale with economic importance or theenergy sector o Estonia and Russia.Due to the hardness o the limestone, the

clis o northern Estonians mainland andthe big islands are constituted o lime-stone. Some o them have a height o morethan 50 m and show the typical structureo hard layers with weaker gaps. In the hin-terland the limestone shapes wateralls oseveral meters height, e.g. the 50 m wideJgala waterall with a height o 8 m.The city o Tallinn is part o the limestonecli. The lower part o the city is built onthe Cambrian basement and the southernpart and the amous Toompea (Estonian

or Cathedral hill) in the city are in the

limestone zone. The structure, but alsothe quality and the price o the Ordovicianand Silurian limestone were the reasonor trade with limestone around the BalticSea, which has taken place since mediaevaltimes. That is why the cathedrals o thesouthern part o the Baltic Sea Region

are built with red brick stones. The oorsare mostly covered with plates o lime-stone. So it is comprehensible that some othe wrecks rom mediaeval times containa cargo o Baltic limestone.

Limestone cli on the island o Saaremaa (West Estonia)Photos:RalfScheibe

t e K p b B s rg

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GeoloGical BacKGroundThe white clis o Rgen, Mn and Sjl-land belong to the most impressive naturemonuments in the western part o theBaltic Sea Region. Most tourists know thatthe clis consist o chalk. But is it the chalkwe all know rom school times, and is itpure chalk?

The chalk contains carbonate o high pu-

rity (up to 98 %). The ne sediment mostlyconsists o the shells o protozoan algae(e.g. Coccolithophorides) and has beenaccumulated during the Upper CretaceousPeriod (70 65 Mio years ago) as a mudat the bottom o a shallow water bight.The mud has been compressed so that thechalk tends to crumble once it gets wet.Fossils o various groups o animals such asammonites, sea urchins, mussels, sponges,and belemnites (the inner skeleton o ce-phalopods) are typical and oten gathered

by hobby geologists. The chalk contains

rocky white cliffs r, m sj

more than 60 bands o int stone nodules,which allow the stratigraphic classication.The int stone o the ossils and the nod-ules have developed due to the displace-ment o carbonate by silicon dioxide.The bed o chalk rom cretaceous timesis more than 800 m thick. Normally it iscovered by younger sediments (Pleisto-cene sands and tills), but the pressure othe moving ice and tectonic movements

broke the chalk into blocks. Some o themhave been elevated and inclined. Todaythere is a pattern o white cli blocks(e. g. the Knigstuhl at Rgen or theDronningestolen at Mn) and darkerparts o Pleistocene sediments (morainetills). The limestone o the southern part oSjlland is younger (sedimentation o Faxelimestone: 65 60 Mio years ago) andshows the changeover between theCretaceous period and the early Tertiary.The border is marked by a thin, but notice-

able bed o ne grey clay (the sh clay).

So the cli o Stevns Klint is one o themost important geological sites witha direct outcrop o the CretaceousPaleo-gene extinction event. The clay containsa signicant concentration o iridium (upto 160 times more than normally). This actwas the origin o the hypothesis o a mete-orite impact during the late Cretaceous pe-riod at the peninsula o Yucatan (Chicxulubcrater). The heavy explosion and the ol-

lowing volcanic activities caused climaticchanges which could be the reason or theplentiul extinction o groups o specieslike dinosaurs. The discussion about theimpact and the results is still in progress.The limestone at Sjlland is more com-pact, coarse grained and consists o corals,mussels and cephalopods.

the economic imPortance ofchalK, limestone and flintFlint stone was the natural basement or

prehistoric societies. The hard, brittle stone

Photo:RalfScheibe

Rgen Chalk

Faxe Limestone


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with sharp edges had been the only ma-terial or tools like knies and arrowheadsuntil the Bronze Age. The beaches coveredwith int stone nodules were an inexhaust-ible source or the ancient toolmakers.Some chipping oors and prehistoricsettlements near the coast bear witnessto the intensive usage and trade.The limestone became important as araw material or construction purposes.

The harder limestone banks were usedas building materials, but normally theFaxe limestone is too brittle and tends tocrumble. Thereore, it is burnt and soldas caustic lime to be used in mortar.The limestone pits and the urnaces romancient times are technical monumentsand attractions or tourism today.The purity o the white chalk makes itinteresting or chemical purposes. Thereare dozens o chalk pits on Rgen andMn rom the last three centuries in which

chalk was used nearly all over the world.

The process o breaking and conditioningwas laborious. Although the chalk is weak,the job in the chalk mines was one o themost dangerous or people o Rgen andMn, who broke the chalk rom the wallso the pits with large picks. A system onarrow gauge railways or the transport othe raw materials or urther treatment wasestablished. The chalk was washed, sievedand dried beore shipping.

Nowadays the chalk is still used: or thepharmaceutical industry, or chemicalprocesses and or paints. The use in spasor wet packs against skin diseases andrheumatism is relatively new. But thebreaking o chalk has been reduced toa ew pits today.

attractiVe, But danGerous:the imPortance for tourismI you ask people about their associationswith Rgen, the answer is the chalk clis,

or sure. Indeed, the white clis are the

most important eature o Germanyslargest island. Thereore, most touristsvisit the clis directly either rom the topto enjoy the view or rom the beach togather ossils. This human impact makes amanagement indispensable. The NationalPark Jasmund with its visitor centre andthe GeoCenter Mns Klint guarantee theprotection and the reliable and authenticinormation or tourists o various age

groups.Every year, coastal erosion damages thecli. The water in ssures and crevassesdestroys the structure o the weak chalkrock during the reeze-thaw days.Additionally, the alternating sequenceo chalk, moraine till and clay beds makemass movements possible. Thereore, thedirect contact to clis at the beach canbe dangerous. The restrictions and pieceso advice or visitors should be takenseriously.

contact

Nationalparkzentrum Knigstuhl,Stubbenkammer 2, 18546 [email protected]

Kreidemuseum Gummanz,Gummanz 3a, 18551 [email protected]

GEOCENTER MNS KLINT

Stengrdsvej 8, 4791 [email protected]

Geomuseum Faxe,Kulturhuset Kanten, stervej 2, 4640 [email protected]

Stevns Museum,Hjerup Bygade 38, 4660 Store [email protected]

Stevns Naturcenter,Mandehoved 10, 4660 [email protected]

Photo:RalfScheibe

The Cli o Arcona / Island o Rgen:Chalk and till in direct vicinity

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Fr is an island north o the amousSwedish island Gotland. With its size o111 km2 it does not seem to be conspic-uous among the thousands o Swedishislands. But Fr has some special eaturesthat make it interesting or hobby geolo-gists and historians.The island is part o a Paleozoic lime-stone zone, which reaches rom Estoniato Gotland and land (see article Estonian

Klint). The isolated position o Fr was thereason or the conservation o a uniquecultural landscape with small elds and thetypical character o the villages. Most othe developments in Swedish agriculturelike melioration and land consolidation did

frt i n r s

not occur here. Many historic houses onthe island are built o stone the lack owood was the reason or that. The housesare exceptional because o their roosthatched with reeds and with a particularshape.Characteristic o Fr (and also or Gotlandand land) are Rauks columns andsculptures o limestone. Some o them aremore than 20 m high. They are the results

o erosion by wind and water during Holo-cene times and the various resistances othe layers o limestone and o marl. Theweak marl is eroded easily; the harderlimestone remains in shapes which stimu-late the antasy o the visitors.

sweden

STOCKHOLM

Rocks on HolmhallarPeninsula on GotlandRauks on Langhammars Penisula

contact

G ta

www.gotland.ino

Ferry connections rom Frsundto Broa. Continuous services duringthe summer, otherwise once everyhal hour.

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WARSAW

poland

how do rocks influencethe environment?

In the Wolinski National Park, Poland, thereis a lake with stunning turquoise color.This unusual color o water is inuencedby rocks which contain calcium carbonate.The turquoise color is the result o an in-teraction between the rocks, sunlight andwater. Here, a splitting o the sunlight inthe clean water and a reection o it romthe white rocky ground takes place.

The rocks that surround the TurquoiseLake are mainly marls and chalk. Theserocks are enclaves, which were depositedby glaciers during the Ice Age. The re-searchers assumed that it may originallycome rom the area Skne, Sweden. Therewas a big enclave that was used as an openpit mine. The marl mine had operated hererom 1855 until the thirties o the twentiethcentury. How could the old mine suddenlybe lled with water? There was a breako the groundwater lines lying below the

surace. In the case o the Turquoise Lake,

water had slowly lled the mine at theend o exploitation. The water in the lakecame rom the groundwater and also romprecipitation. The bottom o the reservoirsis located below sea level. The depth o thewhole lake is 21.5 m. This section can bewitnessed rom the hill called Sand Moun-tain (Piaskowa Gra) pretty well. One parto the rocks above the water level is madeo chalk with numerous int nodules. In

this layer it is possible to nd ossils. Belowthe chalk light gray marly chalk is depos-ited, which disappears under water.

The Polish Geological Institute classiedTurquoise Lake as an object o interna-tional importance, and pointed out it is ohigh educational and touristic importance.

Another place with a similar phenome-non is the so-called Coloured Lakes inRudawy Janowickie, Polish Mountains. On

the northern slope o the Great Kopa there

are three lakes, a purple, blue and a greenone. The amazing colors o the waterponds are associated with the surroundingpyrite schist.

*2 The Blue Lake in Rudawy Janowickie,Polish Mountain. The color o water iscause by copper compounds.

*3 The Turquoise Lake in Poland. The coloro water is inuenced by the surroundingrocks.

*2

*3

The Purple Lake, in Rudawy Janowickie, Polish Mountain.The color o water is due to the high saturationo iron and sulur in surrounding rocks.

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In the southern Baltic Sea and in thecoastal zone there are various boulders.Sometimes, they are o a large size. At rstglance, these boulders do not seem tot in the surrounding landscape. Accord-ing to geologists, they are remnants othe Ice Age. The mass o ice includedrock ragments, which were transportedrom Scandinavia southwards and let inanother location. Following the coast o

Germany, Poland and the Baltic States, wecan nd ragments o rocks on the groundthat originally came rom the north o theBaltic Sea Region, namely rom Sweden,Finland and Norway.Even an inexperienced observer is able toconclude that the erratic boulders are di-erent in size, color and shape. Experts saythat erratics dier in mineral composition,genesis and origin. In most cases geolo-gists are able to precisely determine theplace where the boulder came rom. They

compare the boulders composition o

solitary rocks

minerals with the eatures o rock outcropsin Scandinavia. It is possible to nd igne-ous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocksamong the erratics. They are characterizedby a particular hardness and resistanceagainst climatic inuences. Sedimentaryrocks contain ossils the remains o an-cient organisms.Boulders also have a practical use. Theywere used as a building material o small

churches or houses. Erratics are used orstreet pavement or curbs. In the pasterratics were taken to places o worship orburial, like in Borkowo, Poland. There is arare megalithic chamber tomb. It is madeo twelve huge boulders covered with ourstones on the top o the structure. Someo the boulders have the status o a naturalmonument.The largest erratic boulder in Europe isprobably Ehalkivi (Sunset Glow Boulder)on the Estonian Baltic coast. It is a granite

and pegmatite with a circumerence o

about 50 m and a mass o 2,500 tonnes.The Ehalkivi is located on the peninsula Le-tipea. Along the Estonian coast there is thelargest concentration o erratic bouldersin Europe. One o the largest boulders areMajakivi rom the National Park Lahemaa,Kabelikivi, which is located close to Tallinnand the Helmersen rocks on Hiiumaaisland. There are over 80 stones. Kabelikiviis made o granite and looks like a cli

that is sunk halway into the earth.The boulder Puntukas rom Lithuania isalso well-known. Puntukas is made orapakiwi granite. In the rock, the relie otwo Lithuanian pilots is engraved. Bouldersare also associated with spooky myths.People speak o the devil who used thestone to destroy a church in a town nearby,but at the rst cockcrow he sank into theground. Only the boulder remained. An-other legend talks about the brave warriorPuntukas, who was killed and burned on

the stone. Since then this stone has kept

s e b

Acumulation o boulders on the Estonian coast close to Ehalkivi.Photo:WilhelmSteingrube.


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his name. The stone o lie is also knownbecause o a legend. It is located in Pio-nerskiy, Kaliningrad region. It is a ragmento rock that was split into two parts. Thestones are taller than a human, and it ispossible to pass through them reely. It isbelieved that only a person with a puresoul can pass between the stones.The accumulation o erratic boulders canbe ound requently in the zone o active

abrasion at the oot o the cli. Abrasionis the process o destroying the cli slopeby the waves. Oten clis in the southernpart o the Baltic Sea Region are made opostglacial deposits till. Heavy bouldersall down and orm accumulations oerratics. Waves are not strong enough totake all the specimens to the bottom othe sea. In this way arise the Piast Boulderswere deposited at the oot o the WolinCli in Wolin National Park, Poland. Thediversity o rocks in the Piast Boulders is

really impressive. There are grey, pink and

red granites, pegmatites and porphyries.There are also many metamorphic rocks,such as gneisses and hornels and pink andred Precambrian quartzite. There is alsogrey and greenish Paleozoic limestonecontaining numerous ossils o the Ordovi-cian and the Silurian age. The whole PiastBoulders are a monument o inanimatenature and are protected by law.

*3 The Kabelikivi boulder is located nearTallinn. It is made o granite and looks likea cli that is sunk halway into the earth.Near Kabelikivi there are two other impres-sive rocks.

*4 Piast Boulders deposited at the oot othe Wolin Cli in Wolin National Park inPoland.

The largest erratic boulder in Europe is probably Ehalkivi(Sunset Glow Boulder) on the Estonian Baltic coast.

Baltic searegion

*4

*3

Photo:1,2-Wilhelm

Steingrube,2-M.Arent-Nieradka


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The cup-marked stone is a stone that hasmainly over ten small cup-marks withthe diameter o 3-10 cm and a depth o1.5- 5 cm. Cup-marked stones dier romoering stones that had been used untilrecently and sometimes had one or twolarge depressions or oerings. In Estoniathere are at least 1,760 cup-marked stones,most o them situated in the districts Har-jumaa and Virumaa.

The basic starting point in dating andinterpreting cup-marked stones was thearea o their distribution and their locationin comparison with the landscapes andarchaeological remnants around.The area o Estonia was glaciated heavily,and when the ice sheets nally retreatedabout 10,000 years ago, the land massstarted to rise. Many o the cup-markedstones in the districts o Lnemaa andSaaremaa are about 6-12 m above thesea-level now. When the cup-marks were

made, the sea was quite close to them.

Cup-marked stones near the coastlinecould have marked the landing piers orboats and ships in the early Bronze Ageand pre-Roman Iron Age, and do also havea ritual meaning. The tradition o makingcup-marks rst appeared in the denselypopulated coastal regions in the northernand western parts o Estonia.Onshore the cup-marked stones are situat-ed near riversides where they sometimes

are in wetlands. Nowadays most o thecup-marked stones are located near ara-ble- and pasturelands.Cup-marked stones were oten ound inthe vicinity o stone cist graves (1100-200BC) and tarand-graves (500 BC 400 AD).Both cup-marked stones and stone gravesare situated at rivers or near the coast-line in North-Estonia. The association ocup-marks with the worship o ancestorsis possible as the cup-marked stones arerequently situated near tombs. A vast

number o cup-marked stones are in the

vicinity, or in some cases, even insideancient settlement sites dating back to800-1250 AD. The relation between cup-marked stones and ortied settlements isnot very strong. The relationship betweencup-marked stones and land cultivationis weak. Some stones are located near an-cient elds, but most are situated at a dis-tance rom the eld systems. Sometimescup-marked stones are situated near holy

groves and in some cases inside a grove.

TALLINN

estonia

cup-marked stonesin estonia

9

Photos:withkindpermissionoftheNationalHeritageBoardofEstonia

contact

National Heritage Board o Estonia18 Uus Street, 10111 Tallinn, ESTONIATel. +372 640 30 50

[email protected]

www.muinas.ee/en


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TALLINN

contact

rb m

Jelhtme kla

Jelhtme valdHarju maakond 74202 Estonia

Tel. (+372) 603 3097

[email protected]

www.rebala.ee/en

A large number o ancient burial grounds- reerred to as kangur (cairn-grave) - havebeen preserved throughout history. Thereis usually only one, sometimes severalcairns in a group, but they can always beidentied by a hump on the ground.

Sites that have been excavated and thenreconstructed by archaeologists havemuch greater appeal to a passer-by, or

example the burial site at Jelhtme,which is unique in Europe. It was recon-structed rom 1982 to 1984 during rescueexcavations.

It dates back to the Bronze Age (8th-7thcentury BC). The Tallinn-Narva road wasconstructed when the builders stumbledupon 36 cist graves which later, aterhaving been explored, were "lited" to theside o the new road in accordance with

stone Barrowsin Jelhtme

the original plan. Currently, there is a mu-seum next to the conservation area wherethe ndings are on display.

There were a ew nds in the co ns.Objects like a bronze shaving knie andpincers were most typical o Jutland atthe end o the Bronze Age. Evidently, thespindles ound in the barrows originaterom Danish territories too.

The dead were buried in centrally-placedsarcophagi with their heads to the north.The sarcophagi were encircled in limesto-ne walls as i embodying the world modelo the man o that time: the man is thecentre o the circle.

Photo:Shutterstock

estonia10


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the BronZe age Burial siteof sammallahdenmki

Burial sites are nearly the only way to gainan insight into the social structures and thespiritual world o ancient people. Otherarchaeological categories like settlementrelics or hoards rather reect the daily lieand the economic situation o the people.Thus, it is a stroke o luck to nd, to exca-vate and to investigate a burial site.Sammallahdenmki is a hill in the westernpart o Finland between Rauma and Tam-

pere. Due to the land uplit the locationis now situated 15 km rom the Gul oBothnia in the hinterland. Probably the hillwas chosen as a sacred location during theBronze Age.The Sammallahdenmki cemetery hasbeen well-known locally or hundreds oyears. The second hal o the 19th centurybrought along a renaissance o the archae-ology, which ocused more and more onthe domestic prehistory and not only onthe excavations o antique sites. Ater the

rst description o the Sammallahdenmki

site in 1878 archeologists excavated ourcairns in 1891. In the ollowing decadesthe burial site was investigated systemati-cally. Further excavations ater 2002 madeseveral other cairns and a Bronze Agesettlement accessible.

a detailed descriPtionof the Burial siteThe burial site consists o nearly 40 cairns.

Most o them contain grave chambers con-structed o stone plates without any earthll and closed with a large at stone plate.The grave chambers are covered with gra-nite boulders that give the grave the shapeo a cairn. Sometimes they have the shapeo a ship with a dened stern and bow. Thegrave chamber originally contained a bodyin a wooden co n. Alternatively the deadperson could have been covered by animalskins. In case o a cremation burial, thegrave box contained the ash. The burned

relics o human bones in some graves and

several grave goods like a bronze braceletgive an impression o the burial practiceso the Bronze Age. With the help o theradiocarbon method a precise dating waspossible. The oldest cairns were rom 1300to 1000 B.C. The youngest ones were romthe rst century B.C.The excavations between 2002 and 2004also brought knowledge about a BronzeAge settlement near the burial site. Dating

rom the rst century B.C., relics o a wood-en house and a hearth were ound. Thehearth contained burned grains o barleyand wheat. Bones o animals, ragmentso pottery and stone plates are witnesseso a living economy in the village.The Church oor in the middle o theburial site is an unusual rectangular o16 x 19 metres. It is interpreted as a cairn,too. But the rst writings mention that theplace was named Church oor becauseo a myth: long time ago there was a

contest between the people and giants to

Sammallahdenmki in Lappi. The so-calledchurch oor and cairns rom the Bronze Age.

Photo:TuomoHurme,NationalBoardofAntiquities,Finland


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finland

build a church. The winner should ring thebells when the church was ready. The peo-ple only erected two stone columns, xedthe bell between the columns and rangthe bell. The giants were angry and letthe site. Only the oor was ready andis still there.

World heritaGe site and useas tourism attraction

The Sammallahdenmki burial site hasbeen UNESCO World Heritage Site since1999. One o the reasons was that the sitepresents the monuments in a well-pre-served natural milieu. The area containsnearly all types o Bronze Age cairnsknown rom Finland.

Today Sammallahdenmki is surroundedby a protection zone established by theprovincial government in 1995. But theprotection zone has the objective to keep

it ree rom covering vegetation in order to

guarantee an unimpeded view to all cairns.It is necessary because tree roots destroythe cairns. The litter o the trees acceler-ates the weathering o the stones.Thereore, all trees growing on top othe cairns in the neighbourhood are elledregularly.As a World Heritage Site Sammallahden-mki is an important tourist attraction.The existing impact by visitors requires

a management. The National Board oAntiquities prepared a management anduse plan or the whole area in cooperationwith the local land owners and environ-mental authorities.

For tourists the burial site near the villageKivikyl is marked with inormation signsand guided tours are oered.

HELSINKI

Photo:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sammallahdenm%C3

%A4ki3.J

PG

contact

n B aq

www.nba.f

How to get there:Direction signs guide the visitorto Sammallahdenmki rom Highway12 (RaumaHuittinen). At the towno Lappi, the route turns north alongRoad 2070. Ater ca. 3.5 km the routeturns let along a side road markedby a direction sign. The route endsat an inormation sign.

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The rock carvings o the Tanum regionconstitute an outstanding example oBronze Age art o the highest quality.The range o motis provides exceptionalevidence o many aspects o lie in theEuropean Bronze Age. The continuity osettlement and consistency in land use inTanum as illustrated by the rock art, thearchaeological remains and the eatureso the modern landscape in the Tanumregion, combine to make this a remarkable

example o continuity over eight millenniao human history.

These magnicent pictures, some carved3000 years ago, bear a unique testimonyto the Bronze Age world. Not only dothey make vivid this lost and distant timeto us, but these powerul images alsohave the ability to speak directly to themodern onlooker. Their subject mattersremain unwaveringly pertinent to ourhuman existence, aording us, perhaps, a

new language with which to consider the

rock carvingsof tanum

eternal questions o lie and death. Thesewords were the justication or inscribingthe rock carvings o Tanum in the UNESCOWorld Heritage List in 1994 and show theimportance o that heritage site.

the BacKGroundTanum is a municipality in the Swedish dis-trict Vstra Gtalands ln near the borderto Norway and is the junction between thecoastline o the Skagerrak and the inland

lake system o Dalsland. The EuropeanHighway No. 6 makes it easily accessibleor tourists, who enjoy the nature, watersports and cultural relics.The geological background is character-ised by the typical Bohus granite. Thisgranite type has its reddish colour romthe potash eldspars and the grey quartz.The granite is ne-grained and sometimescontains pegmatite dykes. The Bohusgranite is widespread in a 20 km widestretch between southern Norway and

Lysekil in western Sweden. Thanks o the

colour and the texture the Bohus granite isoten used or construction. But probablytheses details were not interesting or theancient people o the Bronze Age, whosettled near todays Tanumshede between1800 and 500 years beore Christ. Due tothe land uplit the settlement was nearcoastline. Now it is situated approximately30 meters above the sea level and containsalso a burial site with two impressivecairns.

the tanum rocK carVinGsin detailThere are more than 10,000 carvingsknown in the Tanum region. Most o themare concentrated near the villages o Vitly-cke (most important), Litseby, Fossum andAspeberget. The smooth surace o thegranite (polished by the glacier erosion)was a good base or the carvings, whichare engraved some millimetres into thegranite surace. Probably they had been

engraved with bronze tools, but also with

Photos:RalfScheibe


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stone tools. The reddish colour today is notthe original one, it is only to indicate thecarvings or visitors.

The carvings show a broad variety omotis and give an insight into the world othe Bronze Age people. The carvings showthe daily lie with hunting, shing andagriculture with ploughs and wheels, butalso religious elements like the sun or g-ures that can be interpreted as divinities.

Elements o culture like dancing scenes arepopular. Very oten also boats are shown.Some o them are similar to younger typeso boats o the Vikings (the Hjortspring-boat), but it is uncertain i the Bronze Ageboats had been really used or navigationor only or religious purposes (e.g. graves).In Vitlycke the probably oldest picture olovers can be visited!

Rock carvings are well-known rom sev-eral places in Sweden and other Nordic

countries. Others are in western Sweden

(district Bohusln), near Norrkping andEnkping and in southern Sweden (Skne).They all are common in regions with gran-ite or gneiss rocks. Limestone carvings areeasily conceivable but not stable.

tourism infrastructureThe rock carvings o Tanum are well-devel-oped or visitors. In Vitlycke a visitors cen-tre as well as a museum gives all inorma-tion. Nearly all important single carvings

are accessible via wooden paths throughthe orest. The carvings are marked witha red colour and multilingual inormationboards. To protect the carvings, some othem are covered with oils which showthe carvings at their surace.The visitor centre oers a lot o books, gitsand traditional crats. A reconstruction o aBronze Age arm is also part o the centre.The visitors (e.g. school groups, students)have the chance to gain an insight into theBronze Age lie by making bronze tools

and pottery and preparing ood.

sweden

contact

Vyk Vitlycke 2, S-457 93 Tanumshede

vitlyckemuseum

@vgregion.se

thgUndersls, S-457 91 Tanumshede

www.rockartscandinavia.se

Photo:RalfScheibe

The carvings were coloured red to improve visibility.

STOCKHOLM

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Baltic Amber has been known or a verylong time. In ancient times, amber was acommodity, which was traded along theAmber Route that ran rom the southernshores o the Baltic to the Mediterraneanarea. The third century AD was consid-ered the peak o amber trade. In southernEurope amber was primarily used as jew-elry. Amber was also used to cure throatdiseases. It was consumed in the orm o

tincture or powder sometimes mixed withother ingredients or example with herbs.It was one o the most popular medicinesbesides mercury, gold and camphor. Inthe Middle Ages people believed in themagical power o amber. Wearing amberaround the neck was said to prevent everydisease. In the Arab world it was also usedin medicine. For the Turks and Chineseamber served as a talisman. An interestinguse in modern times was the production omouthpieces or pipes. Amber seemed to

have relieving eects. It was very popular

to decorate the interiors. Well-known is thestory o the Amber Room, which disap-peared ater World War II. Thousands oamateurs, o cials rom Poland, Germanyand the ormer Soviet Union and eventhe secret services have unsuccessullysearched or the Amber Room or years.Today, a copy o the lost Amber Room canbe visited in the palace o CatherineTsarskoye Selo in Russia. The reconstruc-

tion took rom 1979 to 2003 and was basedon extant photos and documents.

Amber contains so-called succinic acid(3% 8%), which is anti-inammatory.This component is used today in theproduction o cosmetics such as oint-ments, creams, lotions or shampoos. Somehealth resorts oer amber treatmentssuch as baths in tubs lled with hot ambernuggets. In pharmacies it is possible to buyproducts with succinic acid to relieve rheu-

matic diseases, asthma and skin problems.

Amber has always ascinated people,who adorned their bodies with thisprecious stone. Amber exists in a widecolor spectrum, ranging rom white (themost valuable one in the Middle Ages)to all shades o yellow and brown. Thereis also reddish, green and even blue andblack amber. Amber is very light and otencombined with large ornaments. Amberis usually put together with silver particles

and these splendid pieces o jewelry areoten exported rom the southern BalticSea countries.

Sometimes amber even oats on thesurace o salt water because o its light-ness, whereas in resh water it is normallydrowning. This eature is especially visiblein winter and autumn, when the watertemperature reaches 4C (and its highestdensity). Amber nuggets that are trans-ported to the beach by sea waves are an

attraction or tourists and collectors.

Baltic amBera B b 1000

Lumps o amber rom the collections o theGological Museum o the University o Szczecin

Amber sculpture rom the collectionso the Museum o Amb er in Yantarny

Photos:1-M.Arent-Nieradka,2-M.Arent-Nieradka,K.Nieradka


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Amber is mined on a large scale on theSambian Peninsula in Russia. The existenceo amber on the Sambian Peninsula datesback to the Neolithic Age (3500 1700 BC).The amber deposit on the Sambia Penin-sula has been exploited industrially sincethe mid-nineteenth century. Initially it wasdone by underground mining and by thedredging o the bottom o the CuronianGul. Later it was done by opencast mining.

Ater the removal o the overlay glacial andlate Tertiary sediments, amber depositsare washed out with water and sieved. Theremaining sediment is washed into the sea.This causes changes in the shoreline. Onthe Sambian Peninsula the amber depositis usually about 500g per 1 m3 in the mainamber layer, which is a very high concen-tration. Today hal o the worlds amberproduction is on the Sambia Peninsula. Itshigh amount o succinic acid, its age andits hardness distinguishes Baltic amber

rom others coming rom Dominican

Republic, China, Romania, Sicily andSakhalin Island in Russia.

The value o amber depends on the size othe nugget, but also the color, transparencyand clarity are important. A widespreadeature o amber is the burned lump whichis light with a bright yellow ame. Peopleused this eature by adding some pieces oamber to an oil lamp to obtain a brighter

light.

Baltic amber is a raw material which ormedout o resin in the Miocene about 40 millionyears ago. The resin o conierous trees wastransported rom the area o contemporaryScandinavia and the Baltic Sea by theormer river Eridanus. The resin was nallyset in the so-called blue earth in theancient delta o the past river. This deltawas part o the area o todays Gul oGdansk on the Polish coast. Amber is also

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