Good MorningThis sunrise was captured on Fårö island, itself an island off the coast of t

Good MorningThis sunrise was captured on Fårö island, itself an island off the coast of the larger island of Gotland, off the eastern coast of Sweden in the Baltic Sea. The arch surrounding the sun is known as Rauk Hunden (The Dog), a prime example of the unique erosional features found on this island.The rauks are the remnants of Siliurian-aged limestones, classified as part of the Hangvar formation. The rocks formed in a shallow, warm ocean; they are limestones, the remnants of reefs and algal structures living in the ocean about 425 million years ago. These reefs were on the edge of Baltica, one of the early cratons that eventually formed part of Europe.These rocks were exposed during the last ice age and although I haven’t found a clear reference, many places describe the erosion that formed these pillars as dating back to the ice ages. Since glaciers would easily knock over features like these, my geologist’s intuition suggests that they probably formed near the edge of the glaciers, where water from the melting ice cap was flowing across this unit and cut into these pillars. Today they sit close to the edge of the ocean, where sea spray, salt, and waves are working the pillars into thin columns like those seen in this arch.Ingmar Bergman famously lived on and was a huge fan of this island; these pillars make an appearance in the movie “Through a Glass Darkly.”-JBBImage credit: Chris Lofqvisthttps://flic.kr/p/8qKUYtRead more:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/travel/07cultured.htmlhttp://bit.ly/1kgeXwA -- source link

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