Stevns Klint, known as the Cliffs of Stevns in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, is a white chalk cliff located some southeast of

Store Heddinge Store Heddinge is a Danish town in Region Sjælland. It is the administrative seat of Stevns Municipality, and has a population of 3,668 (1 January 2022).Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

. Stretching along the coast, it is of geological importance as one of the best exposed Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) boundaries in the world. Subject to frequent erosion, the cliff rises to a height of up to . Because of its exceptional fossil record, Stevens Klint was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...

in 2014.

Geology

The cliff reveals sections from the uppermost part of the

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...

stage (72 to 66 million years ago), known as the

Tor Formation The Tor Formation is a formation (geology), geological formation of late Campanian to Maastrichtian (uppermost Cretaceous) age. It forms the part of the Chalk Group in the North Sea. It is an important Petroleum reservoir, reservoir for oil and ga ...

and from the lowermost part of the

Danian The Danian is the oldest age or lowest stage of the Paleocene Epoch or Series, of the Paleogene Period or System, and of the Cenozoic Era or Erathem. The beginning of the Danian (and the end of the preceding Maastrichtian) is at the Cretaceous� ...

stage (66 to 62 million years ago); the Danian-aged rocks are known as the

Rødvig Formation The Rødvig Formation is a geological formation deposited during the earliest part of the Danian (early Paleocene; ) and it was first identified by Richard Taylor and Richard Phillips in 1827. It is known from exposures at Stevns Klint in Denma ...

and the Stevns Klint Formation. The lower strata from the cliff are from the Cretaceous and are composed of soft

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...

, indicating a relatively deep marine depositional environment. The dark layer of , mainly five to ten centimeters thick, clearly marks the

Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary, formerly known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) boundary, is a geological signature, usually a thin band of rock containing much more iridium than other bands. The K–Pg boundary marks the end of ...

. The is enriched in

iridium Iridium is a chemical element with the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, it is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmium) with a density of ...

, a fact used as an argument for the

Alvarez hypothesis The Alvarez hypothesis posits that the mass extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and many other living things during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event was caused by the impact of a large asteroid on the Earth. Prior to 2013, it was c ...

that the worldwide Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction was caused by the impact of an asteroid. Following the boundary is a layer of darker clay and chalk between 10 and 30 cm thick, corresponding to a period of low biological diversity on the sea floor immediately after the K-Pg Boundary. The layers can also be seen deep in the tunnels of Stevnsfortet, a cold-war fortress constructed in 1953. The upper layers of the cliff consist of

bryozoa Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about long, they have a special feeding structure called a l ...

and were deposited during the early Paleogene. The

in the cliff is highly shock resistant to both conventional and nuclear weapons.

Paleontology

Stevns Klint contains a remarkably detailed and complete fossil record of the biota in Northern Europe during the late Cretaceous and early Paleogene. The Cretaceous chalk at Stevns Klint contains more than 450 species of macrofossils and hundreds more species of microfossils. The lower Paleogene layers are similarly rich in microfossils, containing many species of millimeter-long suspension feeders. A wide variety of

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

foraminifera Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular Ectoplasm (cell biology), ectoplasm for catching food and ot ...

species have been identified from the Cretaceous and Paleogene, with significant differences in abundance across the K–Pg boundary demonstrating the biotic turnover that occurred during the mass extinction event. ''

Corbulamella ''Corbulamella'' is an extinct genus of bivalves in the family Corbulidae Corbulidae is a family of very small saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the order Myida. Genera and species Genera and species in the family Corbulidae inclu ...

'', a bivalve known as a pioneer species, dominate the strata immediately after the boundary layer. In total, over 830 species of macrofauna have been identified from Stevns Klint. These include

bryozoans Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about long, they have a special feeding structure called a l ...

brachiopods Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, whi ...

ammonites Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...

corals Corals are marine invertebrates within the class (biology), class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important C ...

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

, and the remains of some larger animals like

sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

. Stevns Klint was the first known site to document the short-term survival of ammonites into the

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

, when they were originally thought to have gone extinct at the K-pg boundary.

Cold War museum

In 2008 Cold War Museum Stevns Fortress opened to the public. It features a large exhibition of military equipment and a 1.5-hour guided tour in the large underground system of the fortress. The underground system of the fortress features of tunnels, living quarters and command centers, including a hospital and a chapel. There are also two ammunition depots for its two cannons. The tunnels are below the surface, dug deep into the chalk of Stevns. The top-secret fortress was built in 1953 and remained operational until 2000.

Højerup Church

The old Højerup Church (''Højerup Gamle Kirke'') which stands at the top of the cliff dates from the year 1200. As a result of erosion, a landslide in 1928 caused the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

to collapse and fall to the shore below. The cliff can be accessed via steps from the church. A new church completed in 1913 is located back from the cliff.

UNESCO listing

On 23 June 2014 it was announced that Stevns Klint and the

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( nl, Waddenzee ; german: Wattenmeer; nds, Wattensee or ; da, Vadehavet; fy, Waadsee, longname=yes; frr, di Heef) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern conti ...

had been added to the UNESCO list of

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

s in Denmark.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Authority control Cliffs of Denmark Coastline of Zealand Geology of Denmark Museums in Region Zealand Stevns Municipality Tourist attractions in Region Zealand World Heritage Sites in Denmark