Rokuanvaara

Rokuanvaara National park
• Location Finland
• Coordinates 64°33′22″N 26°30′36″E / 64.55611, 26.51
• Area 4.3 km² (1.7 mi²)
• Established 1956
• Total visistation 20,000 (2005)

Rokua (Rokuan kansallispuisto) is a national park in Oulu Province, Finland. It is located on the southern side of the Rokuanvaara Hill, where old pine forests grow in their natural state. Rokuanvaara is also surrounded by a very large swamp. If you look at Rokua from above its formation looks like a spinning island because thousands of years ago the landscape was influenced both by ice and flowing water. The landscapes are composed of gravel and sand, with sharp crests. The landscape also consists of more than 30 lakes. There is also lots of coniferous tree around the island and on the swamps. On the left side and north side of the landscape there is fields. In Rokua there are also buildings which represent hotels for people all over to visit. Rokua is also filled with lots of hills because hundred thousands years ago, the ice that filled the land started to move causing mountains and rivers to be formed. The ice was over 100 meters high. At the time of glaciers Finland was covered by a large amount of glaciers. Slowly the glaciers started to move and melting causing hills and mountains and rivers to be formed. Rokua today is a beautiful place for people to visit, camp, hiking and tour around the area.

Landscape of Rokuanvaara

The landscape was formed by ice, wind and water. The land was formed as a consequence
of Rokuanvaara Hill rising as an island out of the sea after the Ice Age. Formed mainly of sand, the island was then sculpted by water and wind. The sand deposited by the wind are now, however is hidden under forests and other vegetation. Steep-sided “suppa” holes in the esker are marks of large blocks of ice, which got buried in the sand during the Ice Age. Syvyydenkaivo, “the Well of Depth”, is the deepest hole formed this way in Finland.
Reindeers have not been kept in the area for at least 150 years. Therefore the lichen on the sandy ground has grown uninterrupted. Today, in many places at Rokuanvaara Hill the ground is covered in bright white Reindeer Lichen, which gives the landscape its beautiful appearance

Rokua Swamps and Dunes

Dunes

About 10,000 years ago at the end of the ice age the sandy eskers formation known today as Rokuanvaara was shaped. The tip of Rokua formation rose as an island from the Baltic sea. During that period the island was surrounded by banks. The wind shaped large arched dunes on the esker. About 8,000 years ago Rokua Island was connected to the mainland. As the ice was withdrawing, large blocks of ice fell and got buried in moraine of the eskers. When the blocks started to melt huge steep slopes called kettle holes or dunes started to appear.

Swamps

Rokua is a great ground water resource. Ground water consists mainly of rain and melting water which gets absorbed to the ground. A high amount of water is gathered into the gravel and sand in the eskers. Rokua is surrounded by both gravel and sand making it harder for the water on ground level to go underneath ground. When the water stays on the ground level for a long time it starts to become a swamp. Coniferous trees grow on the area but the water stays there forming swamps

for more info go to www.rokua.fi

By Romeo
oulu international school.
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