Dju­pa­da­len in Karleby*

Dju­pa­da­len in Kar­le­by, on the west side of Åsle­da­len, is a val­ley that cuts down through the sedi­men­ta­ry rock lay­ers in Fal­byg­den: limesto­ne, alum sha­le, and sandstone.

The val­ley runs in a west–east direc­tion and the upper part lies at 210 metres abo­ve sea level. The natu­re reser­ve is almost 500 metres long and its eas­tern bor­der lies at 170 metres abo­ve sea level. 

To the west and north-west of the reser­ve is Kar­le­by heath, a flat limesto­ne pla­teau. The lower limit of the limesto­ne lay­er can be seen below the dam buil­ding in the upper part of Dju­pa­da­len. The stream, which runs from the limesto­ne pla­teau east towards Åsle­da­len, has cut a ravi­ne through the under­ly­ing alum sha­le and sand­sto­ne. As we follow the val­ley down, we can see almost the enti­re alum sha­le lay­er, and after about 80 metres from the start we get to the sand­sto­ne. If you look in the stream here, you can see the sand­sto­ne “stairs”.

Dju­pa­da­len is an impor­tant site for geo­lo­gists. Alre­a­dy in 1869, geo­lo­gist J G O Lin­nars­son exa­mi­ned the area, and the site beca­me the most impor­tant type loca­li­ty for the descrip­tion of the rocks in Västergötland’s tab­le mountains, which Lin­nars­son pre­sen­ted in 1869.