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North-Estonian cliff
Baltic Cliff, approximately 1200 km long system of modern and ancient cliff formations starts near the island of Öland and runs through the Baltic Sea and along North-Estonian coast up to Ladoga Lake.
The landscape element of that cliff located on Estonian territory is called North-Estonian cliff and it is one of the symbols of Estonia. It has also been submitted to the World Heritage Committee to be entered into the World Heritage List as a world heritage site.
The North-Estonian cliff is remarkable in terms of its gigantic geological outcrop, abundance of well-preserved fossils and historical impact on Estonian culture and settlement.
The foot of the cliff is mostly covered with bank forest. This community, which is relatively remarkable in northern climate, has formed due to the peculiar soil, water regime and climatic conditions affecting the narrow strip of land between the cliff and the sea.
Bank forest is one of the primeval types of forests in Estonia, because complicated access and undesirable combination of species (deciduous trees) have prevented profitable forestry at the foot of the cliff. Dominant species include speckled alder (Alnus incana), European aspen (Populus tremula), wych elm (Ulmus glabra), European ash (Fraxinus exelsior), Norway maple (Acer platanoides), birch (Betula), small-leaf linden (Tilia cordata), willow (Salix) and occasionally oak (Quercus robur). Shrub layer consists of bird cherry tree (Padus avium), rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), mountain current (Ribes aplinum), short pedicelled rose (Rosa vosagiaca), common buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus), fly-honey suckle (Lonicera xylosteum), alder buckthorn (Frangula alnus).
Grass layer features perennial honesty (Lunaria rediviva), common goutwort (Aegopodium podagraria), narrowleaf bittercress (Cardamine impatiens), yellow archangel (Galeobdolon luteum), nettle (Urtica dioica), blue anemone (Hepatica nobilis), wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa), yellow woodland anemone (Anemone ranunculoides), baneberry (Actaea spicata), lung-wort (Pulmonaria obscura), rampion bellflower
(Campanula rapunculoides), wonder violet (Viola mirabilis), giant bellflower (Campanula latifolia), ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), etc.
Alvars cover substantial part of the plateau of North-Estonian cliff. They are divided into treeless alvars, shrub alvars and alvar forests. Treeless alvar is a low area with no trees or shrubs, but it has rich grass layer well spread on the North-Estonian cliff. Shrub alvar has derived from the treeless alvar after it is grown over with vegetation. The most common species in shrub alvar is juniper (Juniperus communis) (juniper alvars); it also contains short pedicelled rose (Rosa vosagiaca), fly-honey suckle (Lonicera xylosteum), common buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus), high cranberry (Viburnum opulus), etc. Alvar forest is low and slowly growing, dominantly spruce (Picea abies) or pine (Pinus sylvestris) mixed forest. Besides spruce and pine, birch (Betula), European ash (Fraxinus exelsior), wych elm (Ulmus glabra), and even oak (Quercus robur) can be found in alvar forest.
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