Dedication

Clary, R. M., Pyle, E. J. and Andrews, W. Encompassing geoheritage’s multiple voices, multiple venues and multi-disciplinarity

North America

Salgado-Jauregui, E., Ellins, K., Martindale, R. C., Henry, D. and Gordon-Smith, D.-A. Incorporating diverse voices in geoconservation in Portland, Jamaica

González, J. L., Hinthorne, J. R., Skowroneck, R. K., Bacha-Garza, R., Miller, C. L. and Hardage, S. M. Social legacy and geoheritage significance of the largely overlooked Catahoula Volcanic Ash of South Texas

Garcia, Jr, Á. A. and Shank, A. Using the geoheritage framework to explore the intersection of diverse legacies at Grand Caverns, Virginia, USA

Pyle, E. J. and Fichter, L. S. The Great Valley of Virginia as place and time in American geoheritage

Brandt, D. S. and Velbel, M. A. The ‘Coal Measures’ of Grand Ledge, Michigan, USA

Anderson, T. B., James, M. J. and McNeil, P. The Burgess Shale lagerstätte at the Walcott Quarry, Yoho National Park, Canada

Bourgeois, J. Trackways in the New Red Sandstone of the Connecticut River Valley, USA, the cradle of ichnology

Clary, R. M. and Dockery, D. T. III The Town Creek locale of Jackson, Mississippi, USA: Charles Lyell (1797–1875), exemplary fossils and a subsurface volcano

Contessi, M., Fiorillo, A. R. and Fanti, F. Three of North America’s geoheritage sites and the lost 1863 exploration of Giovanni Capellini

Gass, K. C. The Milwaukee Formation (Givetian, Wisconsin): gone but not forgotten

Mikulic, D. G. and Kluessendorf, J. Geoheritage and geoconservation in the American Midwest: Silurian reefs of the Milwaukee–Chicago region

Thomas, R. D. K. and Driscoll, E. L. Chickies Rock, a striking promontory on the Susquehanna River: the early Cambrian type locality of the trace fossil Skolithos and a model site for structural analysis

Goldstein, M. A. and Bulinski, K. V. The Falls of the Ohio River: America’s First Fossil Bed

Coorough Burke, P. J., Mayer, P. S. and McCoy, V. E. Mazon Creek fossils brought to you by coal, concretions and collectors

Clary, R. M. Mississippi, USA’s local landscapes: geoheritage value and educational benefits within college palaeontology classrooms

South America

Stone, P. and Rushton, A. W. A. Charles Darwin’s discovery of Devonian fossils in the Falkland Islands, 1833, and its controversial consequences

Chancellor, G. R. Signal Post Hill and Agua de la Zorra: two geological sites studied by Charles Darwin on the Beagle voyage and their contributions to geoheritage

Lucas, S. G., Espinoza, E. and Alvarado, G. E. Acahualinca, Nicaragua, a scientifically significant site of ancient human footprints in the New World

OConnell, S. Geoheritage in the making: the discovery and vulnerability of deep-sea hydrothermal vents

Eurasia

Sharpe, T. The Early Jurassic sequence of Lyme Regis, Dorset, England and its place in the history of geology and palaeontology

Dominici, S. The Volterra cliff in the mind of philosophers, savants and geologists (1282–1830)

Jagt, J. W. M., Claessens, L. P. A. M., Fraaije, R. H. B., Jagt-Yazykova, E. A., Mulder, E. W. A., Schulp, A. S. and Wallaard, J. J. W. The Maastrichtian type area (Netherlands–Belgium): a synthesis of 250+ years of collecting and ongoing progress in Upper Cretaceous stratigraphy and palaeontology

Hestmark, G. A tale of two moraines and the discovery of Ice Ages

Barale, L. The ‘gigantic boulders’ of the Torino Hill (NW Italy): geohistorical significance and geoheritage value

Vtorov, I. P. Bogdo–Baskunchak Nature Reserve as a geoheritage site

Flynn, L. J., Raza, S. M., Morgan, M. E., Barry, J. C. and Pilbeam, D. The Potwar Siwaliks: an impressive Neogene record of terrestrial rocks and fossils

Sun, C. Zhoukoudian: the birthplace of palaeoanthropology and the stimulus for Paleolithic archaeology in China

Africa

Benoit, J., Penn-Clarke, C. R., Rust, R., Groenewald, D. P., Vickers-Rich, P. and Helm, C. W. Indigenous knowledge of palaeontology in Africa

Mugumbate, F. The value of the Belingwe Greenstone Belt, Zimbabwe, as a national geoheritage site

Chindebvu, E. G., Jacobs, L. L., Juwayeyi, Y. M., Perez, M. L., Polcyn, M. J., Simfukwe, H. H., Vineyard, D. P. and Winkler, D. A. The Mwesia Beds of northern Malawi in relation to the Tanganyika Problem

Jacobs, L. L., Schröder, S., de Sousa, N., Dixon, R., Fiordalisi, E., Marechal, A., Mateus, O., Nsungani, P. C., Polcyn, M. J., Pereira, G. do C. R., Rochelle-Bates, N., Schulp, A. S., Scotese, C. R., Sharp, I., Silvano, C. G., Swart, R. and Vineyard, D. P. The Atlantic Jigsaw Puzzle and the geoheritage of Angola

Bailie, R. H., Mhlanga, M. and Reinhardt, J. The Sea Point contact, Cape Town, South Africa: a geological site made famous by Charles Darwin’s visit

Gingerich, P. D. Wadi Al-Hitan or ‘Valley of Whales’ – an Eocene World Heritage Site in the Western Desert of Egypt

Bordy, E. M., Smith, R. M. H., Choiniere, J. N. and Rubidge, B. S. Selected Karoo geoheritage sites of palaeontological significance in South Africa and Lesotho

McHenry, L. J., Stanistreet, I. G., Njau, J. K. and Mwankunda, J. The geoheritage of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania: providing geological answers to human origin questions

Index

This Special Publication offers a fascinating collection of papers that cover and reflect widely different perspectives of geoheritage. The editors openly state that they have excluded many sites that geologists might have expected to see in such a volume. Instead, they have used diversity as their theme, from the vast perspectives on defining geoheritage, to the range of sites, even including the example of a modern submarine as a candidate. The volume comprises an informative collection of papers from across the globe. There is some bias towards North American sites, reflecting the editors’ home base, but overall, the papers cover a range of geography, geological time, and exposure type. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the volume. The papers reflect the challenges faced in preserving sites that have either or both geological significance and societal or historical relevance. Papers span a wide range of world-famous locations, such as the Canadian Burgess Shale, the Dorset Jurassic coast, and the Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. It was also great to see a celebration of some of geology’s unsung heroes, such as Mary Anning. Lesser-known candidate geoheritage sites in Jamaica, Angola, and even deep-sea hydrothermal vents are also covered. As we recognise how many important sites are threatened by urban expansion, as well as the closure and infill of quarries and former opencast mines, geoheritage has become increasingly important. The book is a timely reminder to all geologists of the value of championing geoheritage and preserving key sites of historical relevance and/or geological significance. How often are we frustrated at the loss of an outcrop exposing a key stratigraphic succession or geological features that are rare or even unique? This volume emphasises the challenges we face. As the editors say in their introductory review, “Every outcrop has the potential to be great”; it is those with specific societal or scientific significance that merit 
geoheritage status and focus. The editors have done a good job in assembling a diverse collection of papers collectively highlighting the importance of geoheritage to us all – a subject area that has been championed by the Geological Society for several years now. I can see the book being a valuable reference to many working in this area of geology, as well as geologists and historians with a keen interest and appreciation of the subject area.

Reviewed by Mike Bowman, Geoscientist Autumn 2025.