Lumparn (fi. ''Lumpari'') is a large

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

devoid of islands in the main island of

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populat ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

, bordered by Sund to the north,

Lumparland Lumparland is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory of Finland. It is the smallest municipality on mainland Åland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The mu ...

to the east, Lemland to the south and

Jomala Jomala is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory of Finland. In terms of population, it is the next largest after Mariehamn, the capital of Åland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The ...

to the west.

Description

Most of the bay fills a nine kilometer wide impact crater. The crater is estimated to be about 1000 million years old ( Proterozoic). The depression was originally believed to be a rift. Extraterrestrial origin was first proposed in 1979, but not until 1993 was the impact structure finally confirmed. Long shatter cones have been discovered in the southwestern part of the bay. The crater is filled with sediments, between

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

sediments and crushed rapakivi granite bedrock there is a layer of

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ...

( Ordovician)

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

s. This makes Lumparn one of the few places in Finland where

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s have been found. The bay has also previously been referred to as ''Lumpari'' in some Finnish documents, though the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland does not list ''Lumpari'' as in current usage.Svenska Ortnamn i Finland
, The Research Institute for the Languages of Finland, see "Lumparn"

Gallery

References

External links

Lumparn impact structure
(archived link) *

Description

Gallery

See also

References

External links