The Gotska Sandön National Park is the most isolated spot in the Baltic Sea, located 38 kilometres north of Fårö. The island is 36 km,  nine kilometres long and lies along the crest of a 120 km long and at places 70-90 meter high underwater ridge of moraine, gravel and sand that stretches from Klints bank east of Gotland via Salvorev northeast of Fårö all the way to Kopparstenarna, 20 kilometres northwest of Sandön.

The ridge was deposited in the sea as the inland glaciers melted about 11,000 years ago, when the water level was about 50 meters higher than it is today. The land uplift resulting from the post-glacial rebound and the gradual lowering of the Baltic Sea water level led to the elevation of highest point on Gotska Sandön over sea level about 5-6000 years ago.

 

All of Gotska Sandön is covered by sand, with the exception of the rubble beaches mostly in the south-west and moraine that lies exposed at Högaland headland in the south.

 

At a distance Sandön can give the impression of being flat, but, in actual fact, parts of the island are very hilly. The wind has built up mighty sand dunes in the interior which have been stabilised by vegetation. The island’s highest point, the summit of the Höga åsen sand dune, lies 42 meters over sea level.

A border of 10-15 meter high and 100-300 meter wide ridge dunes runs along the entire coast and closest to the sea there are wandering white dunes that move up to six meters a year.

 

Along the western and north-eastern beaches of Sandön, between the forest and the white dunes, lies the so-called “burgen” that is made up of flat, partially treed areas with a large element of stones that have been exposed on the soil surface by wind erosion.

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