The exclusivity of biodiversity and geodiversity assessment hinders conservation outcomes, evidenced by the prioritization of biodiversity in conservation literature, and lagging developmental state in geodiversity assessment approaches, geoconservation strategies and outcomes. This study develops a consolidated approach, “omnidiversity”, amalgamating geodiversity and biodiversity assessment with geoconservation strategies and complementary ecological conservation criteria using ArcGIS mobile applications. […]
Life on Earth is influenced by abiotic nature, providing resources and shelter for living beings on the Earth. Hence, this part of nature should be well treated and protected. Study of geodiversity can facilitate education about abiotic nature and processes occurring around us. Geodiversity as a discipline is relatively young, but worthy of more attention […]
The designation of geological sites in Cuba is relatively new. During the early years of the 21st century some sites were proposed, but only in the province of Pinar del Rio have geosites been officially approved. Here we propose two further geosites, one at Cayo Sabinal (Camagüey Province) and the other at Cayo Coco (Ciego […]
Geoconservation outcomes are hindered by highly subjective and conflicting criteria, varying assessment objectives, disparities in geoconservation strategy steps and the inadequate capturing and representation of geological data in dynamically changing inventories. Review shows that geoconservation outcomes are further hindered by the exclusion of quantitative geodiversity assessment from geoconservation strategies. A geoconservation toolkit is presented using […]
Central Europe and the area of the UNESCO Global Geopark Bohemian Paradise have been affected by global tectonic events, especially during the last 500 million years. Volcanic phenomena are the most striking traces today of such past tectonic events. At the end of the Paleozoic, there were a number of volcanic eruptions connected to the […]
Four small scoria cones in the western outskirts of Al Madinah City, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, form a distinct young volcanic landmark. These volcanoes, despite their very small size, provide one of the most fundamental sources of information about the early eruption mechanism of rising mafic magma in the context of an active volcanic […]
Cabo de Gata-Níjar geopark is an exceptional volcanic zone in the western Mediterranean because of the submarine effusive volcanism and the large volume of subaerial pyroclastic deposits; volcanism developed between land and sea. Its extensive outcrops attract students and researchers from all over Europe to have a better and more precise understanding of the processes […]
In this Special Issue, we present 11 of the 15 geoparks that show key aspects of the past and current volcanic development of Europe. The sites include currently active locations along the mid-Atlantic ridge, from the Canary Islands and the Azores in the south to Iceland in the north. Other sites in continental Europe, from […]
The concept of the volume is to survey all the key geoparks throughout Europe in terms of their palaeontological significance. The second set of 36 articles in this Part cover the long span of geological time from the Triassic to the Quaternary, arranged in chronostratigraphic order. These document some of the most important stages in […]
Together, places of scientific, historical or cultural significance within a region and the artefacts uncovered therefrom and displayed in museums and collections make up the total heritage of the region in question. Seemingly lifeless places and objects become enlivened in UNESCO geoparks through the combined efforts– geared towards education and tourism – of managers, researchers […]