A rauk is a column-like

landform A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, ...

in Sweden and Norway, 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" or "rauk fields". The

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 ...

rauks 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 ...

in 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 ...

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 Fåre 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 province and it is a popular summer resort. It has its own language, ...

island in Gotland, is particularly rich in rauks. While Fårö is on the northern end of Gotland Holmhällars raukfält at

Vamlingbo Vamlingbo is a populated area, a socken (not to be confused with parish), on the Swedish island of Gotland. It comprises the same area as the administrative Vamlingbo District, established on 1January 2016. Geography Vamlingbo is the name of the ...

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 ''Øland'' in other Scandinavian languages, and often ''Oland'' internationally; la, Oelandia) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area ...

neighboring

Blå Jungfrun Blå Jungfrun, also known as "Blåkulla", in English sometimes rendered literally as The Blue Maiden is a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. It is situated in the Kalmar Strait, between the mainland province of Småland and the island province of ...

island,

Hovs Hallar Hovs Hallar () is a nature reserve on the northern tip of the Bjäre Peninsula in the county of Skåne, Sweden. It is located approximately northeast of the coastal town of Torekov. The reserve is an area of geological interest and its impr ...

and

Kullaberg Kullaberg () is a peninsula and nature reserve of land protruding into the Kattegat in Höganäs Municipality near the town of Mölle in southwest Sweden. The site in the province of Skåne is an area of considerable biodiversity supporting a num ...

in northwestern

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

and Härnön in northern Sweden's

High Coast The High Coast ( sv, Höga Kusten) 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, Sollefteå and Örnsköldsvik. It i ...

. 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 the ...

in northern Sweden's

Sarek Sarek is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He is a Vulcan astrophysicist, the Vulcan ambassador to the United Federation of Planets, and father of Spock. The character was originally played by Mark Lenard in the epi ...

and

Padjelanta Padjelanta ( sv, Padjelanta nationalpark) is a national park in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Established in 1963, it is the largest national park in Sweden with an area of , and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Laponia establis ...

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 Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

rock.

Varanger Peninsula The Varanger Peninsula ( no, Varangerhalvøya; sme, Várnjárga; fkv, Varenkinniemi) is a peninsula in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the northeasternmost part of Norway, along the Barents Sea. The peninsula has the Tanafjorden to ...

in northern Norway is rich in rauks and they also occur elsewhere along the

Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...

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 Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

. On Öland and Gotland, rauks are chiefly formed along or near the escarpment known as the

Baltic Klint The Baltic Klint (Clint, Glint; et, Balti klint, sv, Baltiska klinten, russian: Балтийско-Ладожский уступ, Глинт) is an erosional limestone escarpment and cuesta on several islands of the Baltic Sea, in Estonia, in ...

. 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 processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

s that existed in the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 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 shortest period of the Paleozo ...

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 is an area of 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. Cliffs are common on co ...

ed coast, a dissected coast or from

glacial landform Glacial landforms are landforms created by the action of glaciers. Most of today's glacial landforms were created by the movement of large ice sheets during the Quaternary glaciations. Some areas, like Fennoscandia and the southern Andes, have ...

s. 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 his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, 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 Sarek National Park ( sv, Sareks nationalpark) is a national park in Jokkmokk Municipality, Lapland in northern Sweden. Established in 1909, the park is the oldest national park in Europe. It is adjacent to two other national parks, namely Stor ...

rauks originate as

aeolian landform Aeolian landforms are features produced by either the erosive or constructive action of the wind. These features may be built up from sand or snow, or eroded into rock, snow, or ice. Aeolian landforms are commonly observed in sandy deserts and on ...

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 sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

that belongs to the Sierggavággenappe ( sv, Sierggavággeskollan) of the

Scandinavian Caledonides The Scandinavian Caledonides are the vestiges of an ancient, today deeply eroded orogenic belt formed during the Silurian–Devonian continental collision of Baltica and Laurentia, which is referred to as the Scandian phase of the Caledonian oroge ...

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