The Sudetes is a mountain range in Central Europe and an area of remarkable geodiversity. In recent years, the area has been promoted as a geotourist destination and various initiatives aimed at better understanding geoheritage have been implemented. An interest in scenic landscapes is not new however, and dates back to the end of the eighteenth century. Two areas within the Sudetes are cradles of local nature-based tourism. These are the granite massif of the Karkonosze in the west and the sandstone stepped plateau of Broumov Highland and Stołowe Mountains in the central part of the Sudetes. In both, physical access to the key geosites was provided as early as in the nineteenth century, while an interpretation component was added in the early twentieth century. A side-effect of political change following the end of World War II was the neglect and dilapidation of many sites, as well as the disappearance of geoheritage appreciation from the collective social memory. In the last decade many of those early achievements were rediscovered and provided the foundations for contemporary activities. An educational component based on modern science is now included in the features which were discovered as tourist attractions long ago.

On a regional geological map, western Wisconsin looks as if it has very simple, even boring, geology. It is dominated by flat-lying, layer-cake Ordovician sedimentary rocks thinly overlain by Pleistocene glacial drift, yet detailed investigation reveals many interesting geologic features, furnishing research projects and teaching examples for all levels of geological education. In this “simple” area around Spring Valley, Wisconsin, you will see a major cave, an old mine, a large earthen dam and a meteorite impact site. In addition to what these sites say about the area’s geologic and human history, they furnish insight into how geologists piece together evidence as well as illustrate relevant subjects such as groundwater supply, control of catastrophic flooding and intelligent land use. It is our hope that, while enjoying learning about the features in this scenic part of Wisconsin, many of you will be inspired to seek out the unique geology of your area, and bring that knowledge into your classrooms.

The Minneapolis Chain of Lakes is a focal point of natural beauty in the heart of the city. Given the recreational and aesthetic imperative, these urban waterbodies have for decades been heavily managed for water quality and lake level. In the early stages of development of Minneapolis’ civic infrastructure, the area’s lakes and streams, as well as the Mississippi River, were given special consideration for preservation. This did not, however, mean that the lakes were preserved in their “natural” state, for they were connected by channels, dredged and filled to turn wetlands into open water and dry land, and even reshaped to better conform to the prevailing fashion of design. These manipulations had dramatic effects on the Chain’s smallest lake, Brownie, which became meromictic after a rapid drop in lake level caused by ditching across the divide to Cedar Lake. The lakes and surrounding area were important sources of subsistence for Dakota and Ojibwe people through the middle of the nineteenth century, and some of the earliest substantive interactions between missionaries and Native Americans in Minnesota played out around the Chain of Lakes and nearby Mississippi River valley. The relative orientation of the lakes (and of other groups of lakes in the Twin Cities), and some lakes’ unusual depths relative to surface areas, result from their formation by melting of ice blocks buried in valley train fill during final retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet. Below tens to hundreds of feet of glacial material, mapping of bedrock surfaces indicates the presence of paleo–Mississippi River channels dating from at least two previous interglacials. The integration of multiple subdisciplines of geology and of various basic sciences within paleolimnology and limnogeology, as well as the relevance to students of historical and environmental information, makes lake sediment studies well suited to hands-on, place-based educational approaches as stand-alone courses or laboratories for a number of different core curriculum and nonmajor classes.