Lake Bästeträsk is a freshwater lake located in the northern part of the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

island of

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

. It is the largest lake on the island.

Geography

The lake is located at the north end of Gotland, from the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

. It has three islands: Falholmen, Storholmen and Lillholmen. The lake forms of the Bästeträsk

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

, one of the largest on Gotland. With an area of it is the largest lake on the island. Despite its size, the maximum depth is only and in most places the lake is considerably shallower.

Geology

Most of the lake is surrounded by a high wall of gravel and larger blocks of stone known as a "beach barricade". The wall has been displaced or pushed out by the expanding ice during the winter. The bottom of the lake is made up of blocks of stone, especially in the shallower parts, and sediments. Lake Bästeträsk is connected to the Baltic Sea through the stream Arån, which is a breeding ground for

sea trout Sea trout is the common name usually applied to anadromous (sea-run) forms of brown trout (''Salmo trutta''), and is often referred to as ''Salmo trutta'' morpha ''trutta''. Other names for anadromous brown trout are sewin (Wales), peel or peal ...

Biology

Bästeträsk is a freshwater reserve with very clean inflows, a number of them has the same aspects as drinking water. The water has a greenish tint with low nutrient content, making the lake devoid of vegetation save for stands of '' Chara aspera'', ''Chara tomentosa'', ''Chara globularis'' and the only occurrence in Sweden of ''

Nitella ''Nitella'' is a genus of charophyte green algae in the family Characeae. Species The species in the genus include: *'' Nitella abyssinica'' A. Braun * '' Nitella acuminata'' A. Braun ex Wallman *'' Nitella aemula'' A. Braun * '' Nitella an ...

tenuissima''. It is inhabited by species such as

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus '' Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a ...

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Percif ...

roach Roach may refer to: Animals * Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea * Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae ** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes * California roach ...

rudd ''Scardinius'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without any further qualifiers is also used for individual species, particularly the common rudd (''S. erythrophthalmus''). Th ...

tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also ...

, European bullhead and whitefish. The lake was stocked with

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

during the 1920s. A number of rare lichens and

polyporales The Polyporales are an order of about 1800 species of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The order includes some (but not all) polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics (mainly in the genus ''Lentinus''). Many species within ...

can be found in the nature reserve surrounding the lake, along with the land snail '' Cochlicopa nitens''. The islands in the lake have a large colony of common eider.

Uses

The area around Bästeträsk has been used for quarrying

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 whe ...

since the 1650s. Production ceased in 1990, but traces of the industry remain. Most visible are the two smaller

quarry lake A quarry lake is a lake that is formed after a quarry has been dug through a mining operation. Formation During the mining process, water must be emptied. But after the mining operation has been abandoned, groundwater is allowed to seep in, ...

s to the north of the lake. The northwest of these lakes, "The Blue Lagoon", is a well visited swimming site. The lake's outflow in the north was dammed up and led through a culvert for production of hydroelectricity following a decision in 1939. only the culvert remains. In winter the lake is sometimes used for tour skating.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lake Bastetrask Bastetrask Gotland