{{short description|Landform in Sweden and Norway}} [[File:Sweden 2018-08-05 (44113488995).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Rauks (''rauks'') at Fårö Island, east of mainland Sweden]]
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.
== Sweden == Rauks are common on the island of Gotland, Sweden and on the smaller islands belonging to Gotland County.<ref name=SNLstrandflate>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://snl.no/rauk |title=rauk |encyclopedia=Store norske leksikon |language=no |publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget |last=Linge |first=Henriette |location=Oslo |date=2018-02-20 }}</ref> Fårö island in Gotland, is particularly rich in rauks.<ref name=Colette>{{cite web |url=https://www.expressen.se/allt-om-resor/resmal/europa/sverige/glom-gotland-har-ar-okanda-svenska-platserna-som-har-raukar/ |title=Glöm Gotland – här är okända svenska platserna som har raukar |language=sv |last=van Luik |first=Colette |date=August 5, 2018 |website=Expressen |access-date=February 19, 2019}}</ref> While Fårö is on the northern end of Gotland Holmhällars raukfält at Vamlingbo in the southern end of Gotland is also rich in rauks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.guteinfo.com/?id=123 |title=Holmhällars raukfält |language=sv |last=Enderborg |first=Bernt |website=guteinfo.com |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> Rauks in Gotland often occur in groups or fields, so-called ''raukfält''.<ref name=Kent2001>{{cite web |url=https://fof.se/tidning/2001/6/artikel/sa-stiger-rauken-ur-havet |title=Så stiger rauken ur havet |last=Larsson |first=Kent |date=September 1, 2001|website=Forskning & Framsteg |access-date=February 28, 2019|language=sv }}</ref> Rauks can be found both near Gotland's many cliffs or far away from these.<ref name=Rudberg1967/>
Other localities with rauks include Byrum on northwestern Öland neighboring Blå Jungfrun island, Hovs Hallar and Kullaberg in northwestern Scania and Härnön in northern Sweden's High Coast.<ref name=Colette/> Rauks on Öland are made up of limestone.<ref name=Colette/> A few rauks are located in the Scandinavian Mountains in northern Sweden's Sarek<ref name=Sarekutsidan>{{cite web |url=https://www.utsidan.se/cldoc/sallsamheter-i-sarek.htm |title=Sällsamheter i Sarek |last=Norris |date=2014 |website=utsidan.se |access-date=February 12, 2019 |language=sv}}</ref> and Padjelanta<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.swedishlapland.com/sv/stories/vandra-i-padjelanta-det-hogre-landet/ |title=Vandra i Padjelanta, det högre landet |language=sv |last=Wallin |first=Göran |website=swedishlapland.com |access-date=March 10, 2019 }}</ref> national parks.
== Norway == [[File:Traenstaven.jpg|thumb|{{interlanguage link|Trænstaven|no}} mountain in Træna Municipality is a rauk amidst the strandflat landscape of Norway's coast.]] In Norway, there are rauks in {{interlanguage link|Trollholmsund|no}} where, according to local lore, the rauks are petrified trolls.<ref name=Dahl2015>{{cite web |url=https://www.ngu.no/blogg/reis-til-en-rauk |title=Reis til en rauk |last=Dahl |first=Rolv Magne |date=July 23, 2015 |website=www.ngu.no |publisher=Norges geologiske undersøkelse |access-date=February 23, 2019|language=no}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Dahl2015/>
In Norway the term rauk is also applied to isolated residual mountains in the flat strandflat landscape along the coast.<ref name=Terje2000>{{cite report |author-last=Motrøen |author-first=Terje |date=2000 |title=Strandflatens dannelse – kystlandskapet som spiser seg inn i landblokken |url=https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/134104/rapp04_2000.pdf?sequence=1 |publisher=Høgskolen i Hedmark |access-date=September 6, 2017 |language=no |isbn=82-7671-104-9 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
== Geology == {{see also|Geology of Gotland}} Rauks are usually formed by wave erosion.<ref name=SNLstrandflate/><ref name=Rudberg1967/> On Öland and Gotland, rauks are chiefly formed along or near the escarpment known as the Baltic Klint.<ref name=Kent2001/> Gotland rauks consist of limestone representing reefs that existed in the Silurian period.<ref name=Kent2001/><ref name=Rudberg1967/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nose |first1=Martin |last2=Schmid |first2=Dieter U. |last3=Leinfelder |first3=Reinhold R. |date=2006 |title=Significance of microbialites, calcimicrobes, and calcareous algae in reefal framework formation from the Silurian of Gotland, Sweden |journal=Sedimentary Geology |volume=192 |issue= 3–4|pages=243–265 |doi= 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2006.04.009|bibcode=2006SedG..192..243N |quote=At the Digerhuvud rauk field (rauk: erosional rock remnant) in the northwestern part of Fårö (Fig. 1), rauks appear to represent erosional remnants of larger patch reef complexes}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Kent2001/>
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 cliffed coast, a dissected coast or from glacial landforms.<ref name=Rudberg1967>{{cite journal |last=Rudberg |first=Sten|author-link=Sten Rudberg |date=1967 |title=The cliff coast of Gotland and the rate of cliff retreat |journal=Geografiska Annaler |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=283–298 |doi= 10.2307/520895|jstor=520895}}<!--|access-date=13 July 2015--></ref> A comparison of photographs from 1900 and from 1966 has shown that some rauks had been destroyed during that period.<ref name=Rudberg1967/>
Carl Linnaeus, who visited Gotland in 1741, was the first scientist to describe rauks.<ref name=Kent2001/> He called them ''stenjättar'' (stone giants) while also noting the ruiniform shape of same rauks.<ref name=Kent2001/>
In Sarek National Park rauks originate as aeolian landforms, thus, contrary to other rauks, they are shaped more by wind than by water.<ref name=Sarekutsidan/> These rauks are made of sandstone that belongs to the Sierggavággenappe ({{langx|sv|Sierggavággeskollan}}) of the Scandinavian Caledonides.<ref name=Sarekutsidan/>
==See also== * Byrums raukar * Hoburgen
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{Wiktionary-inline|Rauk}}
Category:Geography of Gotland County Category:Geography of Norway Category:Öland Category:Stacks (geology) Category:Coastal geography Category:Coasts of the Baltic Sea Category:Coastal and oceanic landforms Category:Oceanographical terminology