UNESCO WHS - Kvarken Archipelago Postcard

UNESCO WHS Serie - World Heritage Sites in Finland - High Coast / Kvarken Archipelago - The Kvarken Archipelago (Finland) and the High Coast (Sweden) are situated in the Gulf of Bothnia, a northern extension of the Baltic Sea. The 5‘600 islands of the Kvarken Archipelago feature unusual ridged washboard moraines, ‘De Geer moraines’, formed by the melting of the continental ice sheet, 10‘000 to 24‘000 years ago. The Archipelago is continuously rising from the sea in a process of rapid glacio-isostatic uplift, whereby the land, previously weighed down under the weight of a glacier, lifts at rates that are among the highest in the world. As a consequence islands appear and unite, peninsulas expand, and lakes evolve from bays and develop into marshes and peat fens. The site affords outstanding opportunities for the understanding of the important processes that formed the glaciated and land uplift areas of the Earth''s surface. Name: High Coast / Kvarken Archipelago Country: Finland Location: Gulf of Bothnia, Province of Western Finland Inscription: 2000 Category: Natural (iii)(iv) Unesco Ref: 898-002/003 Special Feature: The card has a QR-Code on the backside to navigate for more Informationas about the site.