Protecting geological features

Nationally valuable bedrock in Nurmijärvi in southern Finland. © Jukka Husa

Valuable geological features can be protected in Finland under the Nature Conservation Act or the Land Extraction Act. Geologically, biologically or scenically valuable landforms can be designated as nature reserves, and smaller geological features may also be protected as natural monuments. The extraction of sand, gravels or other materials is usually prohibited in designated areas.

Protected geological landforms include features that have been formed from the bedrock or natural deposits by geomorphological processes at various times during geological history. Such features range from small, easily noticeable features such as "devil's churn" potholes, to more extensive landforms such as eskers and moraine ridges.

Geological surveys

Finland's environmental administration organises extensive surveys of geological features, which are conducted together with geological experts, to ensure that valuable features are identified and preserved. Smaller significant geological features have already been widely surveyed; and large-scale inventories of rocky areas, moraine landforms and windblown and shore deposits are currently under way.

These inventories provide data that can also be used to assess when permits should be granted for activities covered by the Land Extraction Act. Such surveys are badly needed, as there is increasing pressure for these resources to be exploited.

These surveys primarily assess features for their geological, biological and landscape value. But their overall value may also be increased by their local cultural significance, by the presence of archaeological sites, by their usefulness as groundwater reserves, and by their recreational value.

The most important bedrock outcrops in Finland are currently being listed and classified in a major national bedrock inventory covering almost the whole country. So far some 2,500 sites have been surveyed, of which more than 1, 000 have been classed as nationally valuable. The information from the inventory is stored by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) in a special data bank. Regionally grouped results from the bedrock inventory can be obtained from SYKE, the regional environment institutes, or local municipalities.

About 1,100 valuable moraine features have also so far been surveyed across Finland, with around 600 subsequently designated as nationally or internationally valuable. The resultant inventory data is maintained in a special data bank by the Geological Survey of Finland.

Another inventory, surveying Finland's most valuable aeolian and shore deposits was initiated in 2005, and the data from this survey is also managed by the Geological Survey of Finland.

The National Esker Conservation Programme

To protect Finland's uniquely diverse esker formations, a special national conservation programme was launched in 1984. The programme covers 159 eskers, with a total area of some 97,000 hectares.

The National Esker Conservation Programme aims to preserve the natural geological, geomorphological, ecological and scenic features of Finland's unique eskers. Activities such as sand and gravel extraction are prohibited in the eskers protected under the programme. Eskers are mainly protected under the Land Extraction Act and Decree, but in most cases building developments and the routes of roads and power lines are also carefully controlled to preserve eskers' natural features intact.