Byrum's raukar
Near Byrum is Öland's best-known and best-designed rauk area. The rare stone pillars have been chiseled out over the millions of years by the constant movements of the sea against the limestone. Around 600 more or less independent rauks rise along a 120 m long coastal strip.
Remember! Fossil knocking is not permitted. Do not remove rocks or fossils. Keep nature clean.
Öland's bedrock
490 million years ago, the land mass to which Öland belongs was at the height of the southern tropic, in a tropical climate. Lime mud began to be deposited in large coral reefs in warm, shallow seas. For a long time, the coral reefs were pressed together under high pressure and the Öland limestone was formed. Scientists believe that it took 1000 years of lime precipitation for one millimeter of today's limestone to form. The thickness of Öland's limestone layers is at most 40 meters, which means that it took 40 million years for Öland's limestone bedrock to form.
Raukar and Fossil
Due to different contents of clay minerals, the hardness of limestone varies. The ruts at Byrum have formed when looser limestone is eroded away by the impact of the waves, leaving stone pillars of harder limestone. The area near Byrum is rich in fossils. Fossils are dead prehistoric animals that have sunk to the bottom of the sea and become embedded in sediments. Over a long period of time, the sediments have been pressed together into a rock, in which the shapes of the animals have been preserved. At Byrum there are fossils of the trilobite genus Asaphus, so abundant that it has given its name to a layer in the limestone.
Regulations
Within the nature reserve, it is not permitted to:
"do damage to the bedrock and the loose soil layers, whether through blasting, road construction, removal of beach gravel or in other ways; the landowner, however, has the right to have anchorages for fishing nets within the area and to practice seaweed collection."
Öland's bedrock
490 million years ago, the land mass to which Öland belongs was at the height of the southern tropic, in a tropical climate. Lime mud began to be deposited in large coral reefs in warm, shallow seas. For a long time, the coral reefs were pressed together under high pressure and the Öland limestone was formed. Scientists believe that it took 1000 years of lime precipitation for one millimeter of today's limestone to form. The thickness of Öland's limestone layers is at most 40 meters, which means that it took 40 million years for Öland's limestone bedrock to form.
Raukar and Fossil
Due to different contents of clay minerals, the hardness of limestone varies. The ruts at Byrum have formed when looser limestone is eroded away by the impact of the waves, leaving stone pillars of harder limestone. The area near Byrum is rich in fossils. Fossils are dead prehistoric animals that have sunk to the bottom of the sea and become embedded in sediments. Over a long period of time, the sediments have been pressed together into a rock, in which the shapes of the animals have been preserved. At Byrum there are fossils of the trilobite genus Asaphus, so abundant that it has given its name to a layer in the limestone.
Regulations
Within the nature reserve, it is not permitted to:
"do damage to the bedrock and the loose soil layers, whether through blasting, road construction, removal of beach gravel or in other ways; the landowner, however, has the right to have anchorages for fishing nets within the area and to practice seaweed collection."