Store Vildmose
Coordinates: 57 ° 12 ′ 13 ″ N , 9 ° 49 ′ 21 ″ E
Store Vildmose (Big Wild Moor) is located in northern Jutland ( Vendsyssel ) about 20 km northwest of Ålborg . With an area of around 50 km², it was once Denmark's largest raised bog . Due to the drainage measures carried out since the 1920s, however, the area has been significantly reduced. However, some areas are still relatively untouched today and give an impression of the nature of this moor.
Origin and history
The peat layers of the raised bog lie on glacial and marine deposits from the last section of the Quaternary . The oldest peat areas that have been proven by drilling are around 7000 years old. With interruptions, which were mainly caused by marine transgressions in the postglacial , peat formation continued with varying intensity into modern times. The natural development of the moor came to an end only through the influence of humans, who began to drain the moor before the turn of the century in order to practice agriculture and dig peat as building and fuel material. Stepping stones from this period in the Vildmose store north of Åby Bjerg still tell of what people were doing around 2000 years ago. Sandels Bjerg could be reached with dry feet over this row of stones. The current total thickness of the peat layers in the south-western section of the moor, which is still largely natural, is almost 4 meters in places, but is usually significantly less in the other parts of the moor. In some places, the peat layer was more than halved at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, mainly through peat extraction and drainage and drying out. Accordingly, there was a reduction in the area of the moor in the 20th century.
Scientific importance
The special value of an untouched raised bog is the information content of its peat areas. The natural raised bog vegetation is transformed into peat over time. Every year a new peat layer is deposited, which contains pollen , dust particles and chemical substances , among other things . The mighty peat layers of a raised bog therefore reflect, among other things, the vegetation at the time of peat formation and provide information about the historical climate and environmental changes during this time. The result is a biological-geological archive of inestimable scientific value, usually several thousand years long. Such archives are extremely rare in Denmark and throughout the Northwest European Plain. Store Vildmose, with its sections preserved in a largely original state, is an outstanding example of such an archive and is therefore known beyond Denmark's borders as an internationally significant geological object.
cultivation
For centuries the moor has been used by the farmers in the area to dig peat for heating and cut rushes for roofing. In the 19th century attempts were made to reclaim the edge of the moor.
- In 1921, the targeted cultivation of 3700 hectares began . The water table was lowered by ditching drainage ditches. The soil was plowed and lime and fertilizer were added.
- In 1934 the first 10 farms were built in Lunefennen .
- 20 more farms followed in 1935, this time exclusively for livestock farming .
- In 1960, 50 km of paths and 400 km of drainage ditches were dug, which diverted the water through the Ryå stream to the Limfjord via 800 km of pipelines .
literature
- Steen Andersen & Steen Sjørring (Red.): Det nordlige Jylland (published as the third of five volumes in the Geologisk set series ) - 208 p., Numerous. Fig. And maps, Geografforlaget, Brenderup (DK) 1997 (2nd edition of the 1st edition).
Web links
- http://www.naturturist.dk/adgang.htm (rules for public access to nature areas; German and Danish)