Byrums Raukar (Limestone tower rauk)
Peculiar stone statues
At Byrum you find Öland’s most famous and best shaped rauk area. The peculiar stone statues have been chiseled out over millions of years by the ocean’s constant movement against the limestone.
The bedrock of Öland
For 490 million years ago was the land mass that Öland belongs to at the height of the southern tropic, in a tropical climate. Lime Sludge began deposited in large coral reefs in warm, shallow seas. For a long time the coral reefs was pressed together under high pressure and the limestone of Öland was formed. Researchers believe that it took 1000 years of lime precipitation to form a millimeter of todays limestone. The thickness of the limestone layers on Öland generally amounts to 40 meters, which means that it took 40 million years to form the limestone bedrock on Öland.
Limestone tower rauk and fossils
Due to the different contents of the clay minerals the hardness of the limestone varies. Rauks at Byrum were formed when softer limestone eroded away by wave impact and left behind
stone statues (Rauks) of harder limestone. The area at Byrum is rich in fossils. Fossils are dead prehistoric animals that has sunk to the ocean floors and been embedded in sediment. The sediments have been compressed during a long time into a rock, in which the animal forms is preserved. At Byrum occurs fossils of the Trilobite genus Asaphus occurs so plentiful that it lent its name to one of the layers of the limestone.
Remember, it is forbidden to gather fossils! You may only enjoy them on the location!
Facts:
Size: 3 ha (7,41 acres)
Year of decision: 1935
Purpose: to preserve a geologically interesting landscape section and Öland and its best shaped rauk area
How to get here:
The Rauk area is located approximately 8 Kilometers NE of Löttorp. Take the road in direction of Byrum, either from Löttorp or Böda. Drive about 8 km or 6 km and then take off at the sign with text “Raukar”. After a few hundred meters, turn left and continue approximately 500 m to the parking lot.
GPS coordinates to the parking lot WGS 84 decimal (lat, lon): 57.22247, 16.95231
Map: Naturcentrum AB, Stenungsund.
Download: the County administrative boards brochure over (in Swedish only) (440 kB): Byrums Raukar
Download: the entire brochure (in Swedish only) (19 MB): Utflyktsguide Öland
© Lantmäteriverket, Ur Geografiska Sverigedata, översiktskartan Dnr. 106-2004/188”
Source: County Administrative Board, Kalmar
Translation: Visitoland.com