Dunes
The beautiful dune areas in Rokua Geopark were created about 9,000 – 10,000 years ago when powerful winds carried sand from the barren sandy shores of the glacial lake and piled it on the peak of the esker in great drifts or dunes. The sand first piled up in ribbon-like dunes following the shoreline. Gradually they shifted further inland with the wind. In the end the dunes were shaped into parabolic dunes, whose curves bent into the wind like the sails of a ship. The dunes stopped changing shape once plants started to bind the sand in place. The dunes are still a very barren environment for plant life and often nothing grows on their slopes and peaks except lichen, scrub and grasses, with the odd pine tree or two.
Finland’s most prominent dune field!
Rokua dune field is the largest in Finland! It is almost 20 kilometres long and in places it is more than five kilometres wide. The Pikku-Rokua area has the highest parabolic dunes in Finland, reaching a height of approximately 25 metres. The Rokuanvaara dunes can easily be explored on the walking trails in the area. Other dunes in Rokua Geopark are found on the island of Manamansalo.