Gotland County

Gotska Sandön National Park and nature reserves in Gotland County

Gotland County has 163 nature reserves and one national park. Limestone formed in a tropical sea now shapes cliffs, karst, alvar and rauks, while wind and waves continue to rebuild shores and sand islands.

A tropical reef transformed into an island

Gotland’s limestone, marl and reef limestone formed in a warm Silurian sea more than four hundred million years ago. Fossil reefs often resist weathering better than surrounding beds and now stand as cliffs and sea stacks. Water also dissolves the fractured rock, producing caves, sinkholes and underground routes through which groundwater can move rapidly.

Digerhuvud demonstrates marine erosion along Fårö’s coast. Sweden’s largest continuous rauk field extends for about 3.5 kilometres and contains hundreds of isolated forms. The outermost still stand in the water and are being reshaped by waves. A low cliff, almost bare shingle and wind-stunted pine woodland follow inland.

Seabird cliff and shallow lake

Stora Karlsö raises limestone cliffs west of the main island. Thousands of common guillemots and razorbills breed there, including more than two-thirds of all Baltic breeding guillemots. Alvar and meadows above the bird cliffs carry thousands of orchids. Caves and archaeological remains also record human use since the Stone Age.

Bästeträsk is Gotland’s largest lake yet reaches only 4.5 metres at its deepest point. It lies within a notably continuous area of conifer and deciduous forest, mire, alvar and shingle. Lime-rich ground, shallow water and extensive surrounding habitats create a Gotland wilderness used by both white-tailed and golden eagle.

An island made of sand

Gotska Sandön has a different foundation. It rests on a long ridge of moraine, gravel and sand deposited as the ice sheet melted, with solid bedrock about seventy metres below. The highest ground first emerged five to six thousand years ago. Waves, currents and wind have since sorted the sediment into raised beaches and mobile dunes.

Pine forest covers most of the national park and some trees are around five centuries old. Deciduous stands occupy hollows between dunes, while long beaches open to the sea. The island retreats in the south-west and changes shape continually at Bredsandsudde. Gotska Sandön, Digerhuvud, Stora Karlsö and Bästeträsk reveal four timescales together: an Ice Age ridge, Silurian reefs, present erosion and living systems on limestone and sand.

National park in the county