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During last decade in 19 count-ries 66 geoparks (in Europe 13geoparks in 13 countries) havebeen established and geotourism

has been developed worldwide in recentyears. Areas certified as geoparks should havea geological, archeological, cultural and envi-ronmental heritage of special importance, ra-rity or beauty. The task of a geopark is to bringthis heritage to life for visitors and local peop-le and to raise awareness for the significanceof the landscapes and geological objects andto explain how they were formed.

Established in 2000, the European Geo-parks Network aims to protect geodiversity,to promote geological heritage to the publicand to support sustainable economic develop-ment of geopark territories through the deve-lopment of geotourism. Geoturism is definedas tourism that sustains or enchances the geo-graphical character of a place – its environ-ment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and thewell-being of its residents. Geoturism supportssustainable tourism, meaning that destinationsshould remain unspolled for future genera-tions.

The joint collaborative project “Fosteringgeotourism on Central Baltic islands” for2007–2013, funded by ERDF through Cent-ral Baltic INTERREG IV and implementedby the Department of Earth Sciences at Upp-

Estonian

sala University in Sweden and NGO Geogui-de Baltoscandia in Estonia, aims at preparinga solid foundation for nature tourism deve-lopment on major Central Baltic islands andcoastal areas. Recently were published twowell-illustrated books: 1) “Geotourism high-lights of the Saaremaa and Hiiumaa islands”and 2) “Meteorite impact structures – geotou-rism in the central Baltic”. At the end of 2010the third monograph – “Geotourism high-lights on Estonian small islands” will be pub-lished. Islands are important parts of two Es-tonian geoparks being under formation.

In June 1, 2010 North-West EstonianGeopark was founded on the teritories ofHarku, Keila, Padise Nõva, Noarootsi com-munes and Paldiski town. In the mentionedarea several landscape reserves are located, asOsmussaar, Pakri, Türisalu, Rannamõisa, Vää-na and Naage. The most monumental land-form here is the North-Estonian Klint, highescarpment with numerous klint bays and ca-pes of variable shape and size. In the mouth ofrivers the klint is deeply abraded and klint val-leys have formed, which creates good precon-ditions for the formation of waterfalls. Mostremarkable is Keila-Joa waterfall, over 6 met-res high and up to 70 m wide (Fig. 1). Area isrich in plant communities, the klint plateausare characterized by alvars with very thin soilcover and specific vegetation, in front of the

ANTO RAUKAS

geoparks

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klint is a peculiar microclimate and water re-gime, here and therefore a local “jungle” withbroad-leave trees is distributed. The rocks ofthe klint contain abundant skeletal fragmentsof trilobite, echinoderms, brachiopods a.o.Thelowest portion of the klint is composed on softCambrian clay-, silt- and sandstones, upperpart of stronger Ordovivian limestones. Dif-ferent resistance of the rocks to abrading andthe joint systems dissecting the bedrock arethe main reason why the klint retreats land-ward and huge rock blocks have fallen downalong the klint, most effectively in the PakriPeninsula, where the tallest lighthouse of theBaltic Sea area (54 m) stands. In April 22, 1966downfallen material was some 1500–2000tonnes, several downfalls were in the begin-ning of March, 2008.

Very interesting for tourists is Osmussaar

Island, locating on the line of about 20 kmwide circular fault surrounding the NeugrundMeteorite Crater, formed in Early Cambriansome 535 million years ago. The centre of thecrater lies about 9 km northeast of the island.Numerous Neugrund breccia boulders arefound in the central and southern parts ofOsmussaar, carried here from the circular rid-ges of the crater by continental glacier. Themost remarkable of these are megabouldersSkarvan and the Osmussaar Twins on the wes-tern coast of the island. On the seabed Toodri-kivi, the biggest erratic boulder in the entireNorth European glaciation area (height 10,5m, circumference 54 m, volume over 1000cubic metres), rests. The Neugrund structurehas a rim diameter about 7 km whereas itsdepth is unknown. The Swedish name forOsmussaar, Odensholm, translates as “Odin`s

Figure 1. Keila-Joa waterfall. Photo by Avo Miidel.

Kuva 1. Keila-Joa vesiputous. Kuva Avo Miidel.

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grave”. Here can be the tomb of Odin, thechief god and war god of the ancient Germa-nic and Scandinavian people. Here in Octo-ber 25, 1976 the epicentre of the Osmussaarearthquake, the strongest known earthquakein the Baltic States (7 magnitudes on Richter`sscale), was located.

The islands of Pakri were used as a practi-ce bombing range of the Commonwealthcountries, Pakri Peninsula had the strongestconcentration of the military units of the for-mer Soviet Union in Estonia, where the nuclearreactors of the Submarine Training Centre, twomissile bases and military harbours were loca-ted. Shocking military objects are scattered allover the territory, one of the most interestingis missile base in Keila-Joa, where rockets withnuclear heads were located (Fig. 2). On the

other side many cultural objects can be visi-ted, as, for example, Padise cloister, the oldestpreserved building in the area, which construc-tion started already in 1254.

In the stage of formation is Saaremaa geo-park, which offers the most spectacular geolo-gical sights in the Baltic Sea area. The mostunique geological monuments on the islandare Kaali meteorite craters, forming a field withnine meteorite impacts (Fig. 3). In 2010 thecrater field had about 70 000 visitors.Thereare also attractive coastal cliffs (Fig. 4), largeerratic boulders, alvars and unique glacial andmarine landforms. Limestone cliffs and shinglebeaches abound with Silurian fossils and offerlots of excitement to friends of fossils. SeveralSilurian limestone and dolostone varieties arenot only as good building stones but also high-

Figure 2. Missile base in Keila-Joa. Photo by Anto Raukas.

Kuva 2. Ohjustukikohta Keila-Joassa. Kuva Anto Raukas.

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ly valued as an excellent source material formaking natural finished stone products. Forinstance, the Upper Silurian Selgase mottled,easily handled limestone is widely used notonly for limestone carvings (cups, plates, cand-lesticks) but also to make such finished natu-ral stone products as fireplace parts, wall blocksand wall veneers. For centuries, impurity-free,chemically pure limestone has been used forburning high-quality lime. This kind of limes-tone was mined at Jaagarahu limestone quar-ry north of Kihelkonna village in NW Saare-maa.

The most magnifient glacial landform isthe West-Saaremaa Upland – a huge end mo-raine height, composed mainly of till and ri-sing 20–35 metres above its surroundings. Theupland formed between two ice flows, which

moved in different directions and were not si-multaneous. The most recent glacier movedfrom northwest to southeast and this onebrought to western Saaremaa erratic boulderswhich differ in composition from those foundin eastern Saaremaa.

Saaremaa has good sandy beaches and dif-ferent other shore types (cliffed, rocky, morai-nic, shingle, silty) and big variety of coastalrelief forms (spits, bars, coastal dunes a.o.). Theisland has a rich flora and fauna. 80% of theplant species found in Estonia are representedin Saaremaa, altogether 1200 species of vas-cular plants can be found here, about 120 spe-cies are rare ones which have received specialprotection status. The island lies within theEast-Atlantic path of birds. If to add numero-us architectural monuments – medieval chur-

Figure 3. In the Kaali main crater small lake is located. Photo by Reet Tiirmaa.

Kuva 3. Pieni järvi Kaalin pääkraaterissa. Kuva Reet Tiirmaa.

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ches and Kuressaare Castle, will be understan-dable, that Island of Saaremaa is not only agood place for a new geopark, but also for dif-ferent branches of geoturism, includig watertourism. In north-west Estonia and aroundIsland of Saaremaa are located hundreds ofsmall islands, which can be visited by boatsand yachts.

Geosites can be: 1) Stratigraphical (stra-totypes, buried peat etc); 2) Structural (me-

teoritic craters, faults, landslides etc); 3) Mi-neralogical and petrographical (rare and well-expressed typical rocks and minerals); 4) Pa-laeontological (animal and plant fossils); 5)Geomorphological (picturesque landscapesand scientifically interesting relief forms); 6)Anthropogenic (Soviet military objects etc).In both planned geoparks a great variety ofthe mentioned groups of geosites exist.

Figure 4. Ninase cliff at the northern shore of Saaremaa. Photo by Heikki Bauert.

Kuva 4. Ninase jyrkänne Saarenmaan pohjoisrannikolla. Kuva Heikki Bauert.

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ANTO RAUKASInstitute of Geology

Tallinn University of TechnologyEhitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia

(anto.raukas@mail.ee)

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

iimeisten kymmenen vuodenaikana on maailmanlaajuisesti pe-

rustettu geopuistoja 19 maassa yh-teensä 66 kappaletta, joista 13 sijait-

see Euroopassa 13 eri maassa. Geopuistojen

tarkoituksena on säilyttää geologista, arkeolo-gista, kultuurista ja ympäristöperintöä tulevillesukupolville sekä edistää kestävää geoturismia.Vuonna 2000 perustettu eurooppalainen geo-puistoverkosto (European Geopark Network)sertifioi geopuistohankkeita. Vuonna 2010avattiin Luoteis-Eestin geopuisto ja toinenpuisto on suunnitteilla avattavaksi Saarenmaal-le.

Geologisiin geopuistokohteisiin voi kuu-lua stratigrafisia stratotyyppejä, rakenteita(esim. siirrokset, kraaterit), mineralogisia taipetrologisia kohteita (paljastumat), paleonto-logisia, geomorfologisia tai antropogeenisiakohteita. Näistä kohdetyypeistä useimpia löy-tyy Eestin kahdesta geopuistosta. Saaret ja ran-nikkokohteet ovat erityisen tärkeitä Eestin geo-puistoissa. Kuvissa 1–4 on esimerkkejä muu-tamista mielenkiintoisista kohteista.

Lähiaikoina on julkaistu kaksi hienostikuvitettua kirjaa geoturismin tiimoilta 1)“Geotourism highlights of the Saaremaa andHiiumaa islands” (“Hienoimmat geoturismi-kohteet Hiidenmaan ja Saarenmaan saarilla”)ja 2) “Meteorite impact structures – geotou-rism in the central Baltic” (”Meteoriitti kraa-terit – Geoturismi keski-itämeren alueella”).Vuoden 2010 loppuun mennessä tullaan jul-kaisemaan vielä kolmas monografia – “Geo-tourism highlights on Estonian small islands”(”Eestin pienempien saarten geoturismikoh-teiden kohokohtia”).

VEestin geopuistotLyhennelmä

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