Geology on Öland

Geology on Öland

- An exciting history for almost 600 million years. On Öland, from north to south, visitors can get imaginative peeps into the island's exciting geological history. In the quarries with their mighty mountain edges, you can observe the development and time when clay grains and limestone sludge began to build up the Öland layer sequence with its content of octopuses and other prehistoric animals. Every millimeter of limestone represents 1,000 years!

In several places, small superficial quarries, scouring walks and scouring works testify to the importance of the stone for the people of Öland through the ages. When Linnaeus visited the island in 1741, he was concerned that the work of the peasantry in "rock and chipping" took time away from other important tasks. Even today, the limestone is quarried and refined in several industries on the island and stone handling is considered one of the island's basic industries.