When the last Ice Age reached its greatest extent about 20,000 years ago, the Kvarken was at the very centre of a continental ice sheet. A huge mass of ice three kilometres/two miles thick forced the earth´s crust inwards by more than a kilometre. As the ice sheet melted, the characteristic moraine formations of the Kvarken were formed, and as the ice became thinner the land surface began to rise to its former level.

The land is still rising in the Kvarken at the rate of 8 mm a year. Every year about 300 hectares/750 acres of new land appears on the Swedish-speaking coast of Ostrobothnia. In the low-lying Kvarken, both vegetation and animal life have to adapt themselves to the continuous and rapid process of change.

Terranova (or “New Land”) tells the story of this rise, and about the natural environment of the Kvarken and its protected areas. It also provides information about tourism and special interest activities in this unique landscape.

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