A rauk is a column-like

landform A landform is a land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. They may be natural or may be anthropogenic (caused or influenced by human activity). Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, often equivalent to a

stack Stack may refer to: Places * Stack Island, an island game reserve in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia, in Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group * Blue Stack Mountains, in Co. Donegal, Ireland People * Stack (surname) (including a list of people ...

. Rauks often occur in groups called ''raukfält'' 'rauk fields'. The

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

rauks of

Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...

in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

are among the best known examples.

Sweden

Rauks are common on the island of

, Sweden and on the smaller islands belonging to Gotland County.

Fårö Fårö () or in Gutnish is a Baltic Sea island just north of the island of Gotland, itself off mainland Sweden's southeastern coast. It is the second-largest island in the county and it is a popular summer resort. It has its own language, Fårö ...

island in Gotland, is particularly rich in rauks. While Fårö is on the northern end of Gotland Holmhällars raukfält at Vamlingbo in the southern end of Gotland is also rich in rauks. Rauks in Gotland often occur in groups or fields, so-called ''raukfält''. Rauks can be found both near Gotland's many cliffs or far away from these. Other localities with rauks include Byrum on northwestern

Öland Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Oland'' internationally) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. ...

neighboring Blå Jungfrun island, Hovs Hallar and Kullaberg in northwestern

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

and Härnön in northern Sweden's

High Coast The High Coast () is a part of the coast of Sweden on the Gulf of Bothnia, in the Ångermanland province of northeast Sweden, centered in the area of the municipalities of Kramfors, Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik. It is notable as an area for ...

. Rauks on Öland are made up of

. A few rauks are located in the

Scandinavian Mountains The Scandinavian Mountains or the Scandes is a mountain range that runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula. The western sides of the mountains drop precipitously into the North Sea and Norwegian Sea, forming the fjords of Norway, whereas to th ...

in northern Sweden's Sarek and Padjelanta national parks.

Norway

In Norway, there are rauks in Trollholmssund where, according to local lore, the rauks are

petrified In geology, petrifaction or petrification () is the process by which organic material becomes a fossil through the replacement of the original material and the filling of the original pore spaces with minerals. Petrified wood typifies this proce ...

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

s. In Trollholmsund, rauks are made up of dolomite rock. Varanger Peninsula in northern Norway is rich in rauks and they also occur elsewhere along the

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

coastline. In Norway the term rauk is also applied to isolated residual mountains in the flat strandflat landscape along the coast.

Geology

Rauks are usually formed by wave erosion. On Öland and Gotland, rauks are chiefly formed along or near the escarpment known as the

Baltic Klint The Baltic Klint (Clint, Glint; , , ) is an erosional limestone escarpment and cuesta on several islands of the Baltic Sea, in Estonia, in Leningrad Oblast of Russia and in the islands of Gotland and Öland of Sweden. It was featured on the reve ...

. Gotland rauks consist of

representing

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

s that existed in the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the third and shortest period of t ...

period. As waves batter against limestone cliffs, pre-existing vertical fractures begin to erode and widen. Eventually this leads to the formation of caves that merge, and the remaining central rock has now become rauks. The rauks of Gotland formed after the last ice age. It is unclear to which extent different rauks in Gotland started to form from a

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. ...

ed coast, a dissected coast or from glacial landforms. A comparison of photographs from 1900 and from 1966 has shown that some rauks had been destroyed during that period.

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, who visited Gotland in 1741, was the first scientist to describe rauks. He called them ''stenjättar'' (stone giants) while also noting the ruiniform shape of same rauks. In Sarek National Park rauks originate as

aeolian landform Aeolian landforms, or Eolian landforms, are produced by either the erosion, erosive or deposition (geology), depositive aeolian processes, action of wind. These features may be built up from sand or snow, or eroded into rock, snow, or ice. Aeolian ...

s, thus, contrary to other rauks, they are shaped more by wind than by water. These rauks are made of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

that belongs to the Sierggavággenappe () of the Scandinavian Caledonides.

References

External links

* {{Wiktionary-inline, Rauk Geography of Gotland County Geography of Norway Öland Coastal geography Coasts of the Baltic Sea Coastal and oceanic landforms Oceanographical terminology

Sweden

Norway

Geology

See also

References

External links