Geology on Öland
On Öland, from the north to the south, visitors can catch exciting glimpses of the island´s fascinating geological history. In the limestone quarries with their steep walls, you can ponder the evolution since the time when clay particles and chalky sludge deposits started to form Öland´s sedimentary bedrock with its fossilised octopi and other prehistoric animals. Each millimetre of limestone represents 1,000 years!
In many places on the island, small shallow quarries and ox-driven or wind-driven stone scouring mills tell us how important the limestone has been to the people of Öland through the centuries. When Carolus Linnaeus visited Öland in 1741, he was troubled to see that farmers often took time off from other important tasks in order to work the limestone quarries. To this day, the limestone is quarried and processed by a number of businesses on Öland, and stone handling is still one of the island´s most important trades.