In the vicinity of the Bakony Mountains (Hungary) Upper Cretaceous (Senonian) brown coal deposits are known. Within the original sedimentary basin three depressions of northeast-southwest direction were formed prior to the Senonian. These depressions were the sites of fluvial sedimentation and swamp facies. The accumulation of coal deposits was controlled by climatic conditions, rate of subsidence, paleohydrology, marine transgression, and mainly the rate of terrigenous sediment input. Due to reduced terrigenous input in the Ajka area the coal-swamp environment persisted for a long period of time, while in the Magyarpolány and Devecser areas of the Devecser zone the large coal swamp was replaced by a fluvial environment prograding from the northeast to the southeast. The optimal condition for coal accumulation in the Devecser zone came into being in the Gyepükaján area where the terrigenous input already decreased but the marine influence was not yet strong during the first period of Senonian sedimentation.

Abstract Geodiversity and geosite assessments precede geoheritage and geotourism utilization. The process first determines the geodiversity value of an area (based on geoscientific attributions) and then the geotourism potential of the available sites. As a result, significant geosites can be identified, which are the bases for protection and tourism. During geosite assessment, scientific and infrastructural aspects are essential because spectacular sites and landscapes carrying intrinsic or visible values generate interest among tourists and professionals. In this study, a quantitative workflow to determine the geodiversity index over an area, evaluate geosites and monitor significant ones is presented. The study area is the Bakony–Balaton UNESCO Global Geopark, where no quantitative assessment was conducted previously. A GIS-based geodiversity analysis identified the most diverse areas which gave the basis for the geosite assessment done in a ‘geodiverse’ subregion of the geopark. The most important nine of the 75 identified potential geosites were chosen to examine the spatial variance of the assessment. By continuous monitoring, we got an image of what the visitors liked or did not like there. In this way, we were able to monitor the various opinions of geotourists to present unique development strategies for each of them. A connection between the location of geosites and the spatial distribution of geodiversity values was also determined by analysing and visualizing the connection between geodiversity and geosite assessment results.