Impact craters

Content:

• Impact craters overview English
• Meteoritkratern Dellen, 2006 Sverige Swedish
• Impact crater Dellen, 2025 Sweden English
• Meteoritkratern TOR, 2005 Sverige Swedish
• Impact crater Siljansringen, 2025 Sweden English
• Meteorites at Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet English

Impact crater Siljansringen:

During a trip to Northern Sweden 2025 we passed by one of Europe's biggest impact craters, Siljansringen. We visited the newly built tower at Björkbacken to get an overview of this big 52 km crater.

Already from the parking lot at Björkbacken we could see the South part of the crater rim.

We didn't have the time to drive all around the crater, but if we had done that it would a 170 km trip, it take a while.

They have restaurants here at Björkberget but we walked direct to the tower.

On the way we found these rock cubes with minerals. I'm not sure if the minerals are from the original impact crater or later sediment. It was 380 millions year since this occurred and several ice ages has changed the landscape during that time.

This is the new tower they have built. It's built of wood and 32 meters high.

On the top of the hill there are pounds with water.

There is an exhibition in the entrance hall to the tower. It's about minerals and our wild animals, here is the wolf. Almost extinct 30 years ago, now we maybe have 350 of them in our forests.

After we had seen the exhibitions we enter the tower.

Built of materials from our Swedish forest.

Many stairs to climb upwards. Gunilla cheated and took the elevator.

For the first time I can see all the way to the crater's opposite rim, 52 km away.

View in the Northern direction, it's the thin upper part in the background that is the crater rim, the blue is the lake Siljan.

In front of us we have the lake Siljan and the area is Dalarna. That's where the red wooden horses are made.

The village down here must be Siljansnäs.

We haven't climbed all the the way to the top yet. The tower will take us another 5 meter upwards.

Top view:

West-North- East view.

The day after we visited the Northern part of the impact rim in Orsa. This is Helvetesfallet, Devil's fall a little bit North of the crater rim.

If you find it interesting you can read about the whole Northern Sweden trip we did, here: Northern Sweden 2025.