Abstract Fossil trackways in the Jura-Triassic rift basin of the Connecticut River Valley are important to geoheritage for their quality, preservation, and role in the history of geology, especially of ichnology. Discovered in the early 1800s, these trackways of small to large, bipedal, three-toed animals came to the attention of Edward Hitchcock, a prolific geologist and natural theologian. His first publication on the subject was in January 1836 and, in the same year, William Buckland included parts of the report, with illustrations, in his Bridgewater Treatise. Hitchcock and Buckland are credited with establishing the field of ichnology, the study of track and trails. Within the first decade, other traces documented include four-footed tracks, fish fossils, invertebrate burrows, plant impressions, ripple marks and raindrop impressions; few bones have ever been discovered in the valley. Early fossil-track collectors included Hitchcock, James Deane, Dexter Marsh and Roswell Field. Specimens quickly made their way to Europe, and publications brought the tracks to international attention, in both science and literature. In nineteenth-century discussions, the three-toed trackway makers – birds or dinosaurs? – were particular subjects of interest and debate. These fossil trackways remain well known and studied today, with several preserved field sites and museum collections.

Abstract The cliffs and foreshore at Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast expose a sequence of Early Jurassic marine limestones and mudstones of the Blue Lias Formation and the overlying Charmouth Mudstone Formation, the lowest units of the Hettangian–Aalenian Lias Group. Known for its fossils since at least the mid-seventeenth century, this coastal section became famous in the early nineteenth century for the bones of ‘fossil crocodiles’. Many of the most significant discoveries were made by a family of fossil dealers whose best-known member was Mary Anning (1799–1847). Anning and her family recovered the first scientifically described ichthyosaurs, the first complete plesiosaur and the first British pterosaur to be identified. Anning's finds from Lyme Regis formed the basis of the pioneering palaeoenvironmental reconstruction Duria antiquior . Her geologist friends, some with close personal associations to the town, did much to publicize her discoveries and contribute to both her fame and that of the locality. This famous coastal section, with its important historical associations with a key period in the development of geology and the source of so many significant discoveries in the early nineteenth century, now lies within the Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Abstract Cretaceous limestones near Maastricht (SE Netherlands) have been quarried at least since Roman times. In the late eighteenth century, scientific interest developed in their macrofossil content and specimens were illustrated for the first time. Amongst the early discoveries was a partial skull of a large predatory vertebrate that would play an important role in the emergence of modern palaeontology and our understanding of the concept of extinction. After decades of scientific debate, this animal was recognized as a large extinct marine relative of monitor lizards (varanoids) and named Mosasaurus. A detailed lithostratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous (Santonian–Maastrichtian) rocks was established in the Maastrichtian type area during the mid-1970s, which resulted in a renewed interest in fossil hunting by professional and amateur palaeontologists alike. During recent decades, both micro- and macrofossils have enabled a refinement of biozonations, correlations within the basin and with sections elsewhere, a greater insight into taphonomic processes and updated taxonomic interpretations. A new age model and chemostratigraphical framework is the most recent addition, permitting the placement of geoheritage in a larger frame and intensifying outreach to the public, including also virtual and augmented reality and hands-on experience to visitors of museum and (disused) quarries alike.

Abstract The jigsaw-puzzle fit of South America and Africa is an icon of plate tectonics and continental drift. Fieldwork in Angola since 2002 allows the correlation of onshore outcrops and offshore geophysical and well-core data in the context of rift, sag, salt, and post-salt drift phases of the opening of the central South Atlantic. These outcrops, ranging in age from >130 Ma to <71 Ma, record Early Cretaceous outpouring of the Etendeka–Paraná Large Igneous Province (Bero Volcanic Complex) and rifting, followed by continental carbonate and siliciclastic deposition (Tumbalunda Formation) during the sagging of the nascent central South Atlantic basin. By the Aptian, evaporation of sea water resulted in thick salt deposits (Bambata Formation), terminated by seafloor spreading. The Equatorial Atlantic Gateway began opening by the early Late Cretaceous (100 Ma) and allowed flow of currents between the North and South Atlantic, creating environmental conditions that heralded the introduction of marine reptiles. These dramatic outcrops are a unique element of geoheritage because they arguably comprise the most complete terrestrially exposed geological record of the puzzle-like icon of continental drift.

Abstract The main Karoo Basin of South Africa and Lesotho preserves c. 120 myr of Earth's history. The sedimentary rocks of its Karoo Supergroup record massive environmental changes from the glacial Carboniferous to desert dunes and fiery flood basalts in the Early Jurassic. From the early Permian, the Karoo Basin was gradually filled with fluvial and lacustrine deposits, and the alluvial plains were successively colonized by a diverse suite of plants and animals. The fossils of these ancient inhabitants and their behavioural traces form an astounding Gondwanan geoheritage legacy in southern Africa, providing fossil evidence for the moving lithospheric plates and the effects of four mass extinctions and their subsequent biotic recovery. Here, we present six Karoo sites of global geoscientific importance that best display that heritage, with the caveat that these sites only touch upon the Karoo riches that are available for academic research and the emerging palaeotourism industry. It is our hope that these sites will become anchor points for a sustainable geoheritage future in southern Africa.