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A rauk is a column-like landform in Sweden, often equivalent to a stack. Rauks often occur in groups called raukfält 'rauk fields'. The limestone rauks of Gotland in the Baltic Sea are among the best known examples.
Other localities with rauks include Byrums raukar on northwestern Öland neighboring Blå Jungfrun island, Hovs Hallar and Kullaberg in northwestern Scania and Härnön in northern Sweden's High Coast. Rauks on Öland are made up of limestone. A few rauks are located in the Scandinavian Mountains in northern Sweden's Sarek and Padjelanta national parks.
In Norway the term rauk is also applied to isolated residual mountains in the flat strandflat along the coast.
The rauks of Gotland formed after the last ice age. It is unclear to which extent different rauks in Gotland started to form from a coast, a dissected coast or from . A comparison of photographs from 1900 and from 1966 has shown that some rauks had been destroyed during that period.
Carl Linnaeus, who visited Gotland in 1741, was the first scientist to describe rauks. He called them stenjättar (stone giants) while also noting the shape of same rauks.
In Sarek National Park rauks originate as , thus, contrary to other rauks, they are shaped more by wind than by water. These rauks are made of sandstone that belongs to the nappe () of the Scandinavian Caledonides.
Norway
In Norway, there are rauks in Trollholmssund where, according to local lore, the rauks are Petrifaction . In Trollholmsund, rauks are made up of dolomite rock. Varanger Peninsula in northern Norway is rich in rauks and they also occur elsewhere along the Finnmark coastline.
Geology
Rauks are usually formed by wave erosion. On Öland and Gotland, rauks are chiefly formed along or near the escarpment known as the Baltic Klint. Gotland rauks consist of limestone representing that existed in the Silurian period. As waves batter against limestone cliffs, pre-existing vertical fractures begin to erode and widen. Eventually this leads to the formation of caves that merge, and the remaining central rock has now become rauks.
See also
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