Lergravsviken, Naturreservat

On the slope above Lergravsviken and the road to Furilden stands a collection of rauks with exciting shapes. From the top of the cliff edge there is a wide view of the sea to the east.

The rauko area at Lergravsviken is about 800 meters long and is located on the shore of Lergravsviken, 6 kilometers southeast of Rute Church in northeastern Gotland. Several rauks, including the tall "Madonna and Child" and the arched "Lergravsporten", stand on the slope below the eastern cliff of Lergravsberg.

The Gotland bedrock is largely made up of coral reefs that formed in a tropical sea about 430 million years ago, during the Silurian period. Between these fossilized reefs lie packs of layered limestone and muddy marlstone. After the last ice age, just over 10 000 years ago, Gotland was initially completely covered by water. However, freed from the weight of the ice masses, the land gradually rose above sea level. Where land and sea met, the waves could work the bedrock. The reef bodies themselves resisted the abrasion of the waves better than the surrounding layered rocks, and when the water receded, they were able to remain as isolated stone pillars - rauks. The rauks are made of hard, unconsolidated limestone and are remnants of the ancient reefs that gave rise to present-day Gotland. Both the reef limestone and the bedded limestone are rich in fossils of the many different kinds of animals that lived on and around the reefs: stromatoporoids, corals, shells, cephalopods, bryozoans, armadillos and sea lilies.