Sko­gas­torp*

The Sko­gas­torp fen has long been known as Västergötland’s orchid para­di­se. The alka­li­ne and moist mea­dows are cove­red with vari­ous vascu­lar plants and mos­ses, and the alvars at Högste­na alvar and Öja heath are famous and repre­sent an inter­na­tio­nal­ly very rare ecosystem.

Abo­ve the orchid mea­dows, along the slo­pes of Plan­ta­ber­get, grows a mag­ni­fi­cent bro­ad­le­af forest. The bounda­ry between the tab­le mountains’ limesto­ne and clay sha­le lay­ers is visib­le here. The clay sha­le is visib­le on the edge of the cliff and is often pul­ve­ri­sed into gra­vel. Clay sha­le for­med as clay sedi­ment was depo­si­ted in a shal­low sea around 400 mil­li­on years ago and then pressed toget­her until it lit­hi­fi­ed. The­re are seve­ral natu­ral well­springs along the slo­pes of Plan­ta­ber­get. The dole­ri­te, posi­tio­ned abo­ve the clay sha­le, is fractu­red enough to let water through down to the porous, soft, and much fractu­red clay sha­le. Well­springs in the clay sha­le often have good ground­wa­ter as it is rarely affec­ted by human acti­vi­ty, becau­se the clay shale’s extent is more or less limi­ted to that of the mountains’ dole­ri­te plateaus.