Litorina Ecological Nature Trail

The Litorina ecological nature trail runs along the Baltic coast. As you walk this trail, the Baltic shore flickers between the trees from a height of 15 m. About 7,500 years ago the Littorina Sea lay here, and its water level was much higher than that of today's Baltic, so the shoreline was at a different height too. The slightly salty Littorina Sea began to form about 7,500 years ago, when the shores in the southern and western parts of the Ancylus Lake began to subside. The present-day Skagerrak and Kattegat were formed, through which North Sea water and its typical fauna entered the Ancylus Lake. Typical of this fauna was the gastropod mollusc Littorina littorea, after which the sea was named. The spread of this mollusc also shows that the sea had become saltier. During the post-Littorina period, which lasted about 4,000 years, the Baltic Sea, and with it the Lithuanian coast, gradually took on its present outline, and today's flora and fauna became established in the sea.