|
The North Estonian Klint is a 300 km long central and the most impressive part of the 1200 km long escarpment system known as the "Baltic Klint". The Baltic Klint appears first in the western part of the Öland Island in Sweden; it then runs across the Baltic Sea to the northern coast of Estonia to finally reach the vicinities of Lake Ladoga in Russia.
The North Estonian Klint is an outstanding nature monument that exposes Earth's history of the Cambrian and Ordovician eras, from about 560 to 440 million years ago. The time span of the Klint covers the "Cambrian Explosion" and the major episode of the "Great Ordovician Bio diversification Event". For several invertebrate groups the North Estonian Klint is the place where the earliest discoveries for a wide variety of species originating in this age bracket were made. Until today the North Estonian Klint is unveiling coastal escarpments that represent the very well developed structural boundary between the Fenno-Scandian shield and the East European craton. The North Estonian Klint has a prominent place in the history of the study of geological features and it brings to day many outstanding landscapes.
The idea to turn the North Estonian Klint into a Geopark is more and more taking shape. But Geoparks must not only highlight geological features, they must also be embedded in the interests of the local population in a variety of ways. Even though the North Estonian Klint is a continuous geological feature, there is a distinct social difference between the more rural Western part and the more urban Central and Eastern part. Any final decision on the creation of a Geopark must take the ambition of the local population into account.
|
