Salpa-Suppa

Useful Information

Location:	Terveystie 7, 15870 Hollola, (60.9898524, 25.5121377)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Glacial Mill Salpausselkä UNESCO Global Geopark
Light:	n/a
Dimension:	VR=15 m.
Guided tours:	slef guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	only viewing platform
Bibliography:
Address:	Salpa-Suppa, Terveystie 7, 15870 Hollola, Tel: +358-. Municipality of Hollola, Tiilijärventie 7 F, 15871 Hollola, Tel: +358-3-880-111. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

Salpa-Suppa (Soup Kettle) is located in the Hollola Park, right in the center of the city Hollola. It is reached on a short trail either from the northeastern or the northwestern corner of the park at Terveystie road. There is an educational sign and then a long staircase leading down to the bottom of the hollow. The staircase is used as a sports destination, people actually run up and down. The park also contains a viewpoint on the western side named Näköalatasanne, which simply translates observation deck.

What they call a "Glacial Kettle Hole" is actually called Geology Glacial Mill in geology. It’s a depression or hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. In other words, the glacier recedes, the melting water from the glacier floods the area in front, the retreating glacier deposits all the stuff, sand, gravel, and huge boulders, which are in the ice forming what is named a ground moraine. Now and then a piece of glacier takes longer to melt, and so a piece of the glacier is separated from the retreating ice mass. But this changes the deposition the ice is not on top of the deposits, it’s sunken into the deposits, and when it melts, it leaves a circular depression. In most cases, this depression is filled by rainwater and forms a lake, but sometimes, like here, it simply forms a shallow circular depression.

This depression looks like a huge doline, a bowl with a depth of 15 m and a diameter of some 40 or 50 m, almost circular. The hole may be observed from the wheelchair-accessible viewing platform, although there are many trees which restrict the view. If you are able to do so, you should definitely walk down the staircase to the bottom. You will see that the bottom is much colder than outside, the depression is a cold trap. In spring, it takes much longer for the snow inside to melt than outside.

This is a site we would normally not list on showcaves.com. The reason is simply: it is not underground. However, there are several good reasons to list it anyway: it is a geotope, it is of great touristic interest, it is below ground, and finally it is really strange if a geological site is located in the middle of a city, so we couldn't resist.