ABSTRACT Geoheritage documentation is critical for the academic community, and thus incurs an expense to the general public, who may or may not feel the need to fund such an “academic” database. Fortunately, this documentation helps foster appreciation of geosites within a geotouristic framework and can inspire a nationalistic sense of pride, thus bringing about an economic incentive to countries actively involved in geoheritage research and documentation. Yet there remains a prejudice within academia that geoheritage is a descriptive field, is arbitrarily qualitative, and lacks the capacity to create new and important scientific discoveries. We present herein a description and discussion of the results of applying “cutting-edge” science in a geoheritage framework with ample examples from Greece and two case studies of its application. The first of these is The Aliakmon Legacy Project of Northern Greece that necessitated modern documentation to preserve its heritage base when plate tectonic global geoheritage localities were flooded. The second summarizes the geologic history of the Meteora World Heritage Site with an emphasis on how its long complex geologic history ultimately resulted in the Byzantine Monastic community. We propose this paper as a discussion model for the integration of primary geologic research with cultural heritage localities and emphasize that these promise to elevate geoheritage studies to a scale critical for documentation of human civilization itself. It is our opinion that geoheritage is capable of becoming a dynamic field of study in which documentation and preservation expands to integrate renewed multidisciplinary research that in turn comprises the scientific foundation of a “new” cutting-edge geologic field of study.

Abstract Created in the central and western part of Brazil to be the new capital of the country, Brasília is a definitive example of modernist twentieth-century urbanism and was named a Cultural Heritage Property by UNESCO in 1987. It was built in just four years (1956–60), following a design by urbanist Lúcio Costa and architect Oscar Niemeyer. However, despite the worldwide recognition of the architectural value of the buildings, the extensive use of white marbles as cladding is scarcely mentioned in the literature. Surveys conducted in this work indicate that the majority of the marble was sourced primarily from the Italva region (Rio de Janeiro), and probably, in minor quantities, from Cachoeiro de Itapemirim region (Espírito Santo). Available technological data for rocks from those regions revealed their suitable engineering properties as natural stone. Currently, although most of the slabs still remain on the buildings, the preservation of this world cultural heritage is urgent, as pointed out by UNESCO. For this purpose, the potential designation under the name the Brasília white marbles as a Global Heritage Stone Resource would be very beneficial, encouraging the availability of these natural stones for conservation and restoration.

Abstract The largest UNESCO World Heritage Site in the UK is found in Cornwall and west Devon, and its designation is based specifically on its heritage for metalliferous mining, especially tin, copper and arsenic. With a history of over 2000 years of mining, SW England is exceptional in the nature and extent of its mining landscape. The mining for metallic ores, and more recently for kaolin, is a function of the distinctive geology of the region. The mining hazards that are encountered in areas of metallic mines are a function of: the Paleozoic rocks; the predominant steeply dipping nature of mineral veins and consequent shaft mining; the great depth and complexity of some of the mines; the waste derived from processing metallic ores; the long history of exploitation; and the contamination associated with various by-products of primary ore-processing, refining and smelting, notably arsenic. The hazards associated with kaolin mining are mainly related to the volume of the inert waste products and the need to maintain stable spoil tips, and the depth of the various tailings’ ponds and pits. The extent of mining in Cornwall and Devon has resulted in the counties being leaders in mining heritage preservation and the treatment and remediation of mining-related hazards.

Abstract The Puerto Princesa Underground River, amongst the largest caves of the Philippine Islands, is the most visited show cave in the country, even though it has undergone no tourism adaptation at all. Its scientific importance primarily relies on the fact that it is one of the largest known underground estuaries in the world, and the effect of tides is visible along more than 7 km of the cave length. The complex relationships between sea and freshwater influence not only the hydrodynamics of the system and the speleogenetic processes presently active, but also its climate and its ecosystem. The systematic exploration and research of this coastal karst system started some 40 years ago and have shown that the Puerto Princesa Underground River is one of the most important caves in the world with regard to many different scientific fields. Speleogenesis concerns the initial phreatic solution followed by vadose erosion with periodical marine invasion, and subsequent saline/freshwater-mixing processes during sea-level highstands. The hydrodynamic behaviour of the water flowing inside the cave is rather complex, being simultaneously controlled by allogenic recharge and tides. Speleothems abundantly occur with several forms, some of which have never been described before. Several minerals, some of which are very rare, are present, together with palaeontological remains exposed by differential corrosion on rock walls. Last but not least, two large populations of bats and swiftlets sustain a complex subterranean ecosystem.

Abstract The Škocjan Caves are included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List due to their outstanding natural features. The caves include a large underground canyon containing the Reka River, collapse dolines with vegetation in rock fissures and impressive archaeological sites with a rich history of speleological and scientific research. They are also included in the Ramsar Directory of Wetlands of International Importance. Together with their broader surface area, the site is known as the UNESCO Karst Biosphere Reserve. The aim of the management of the reserve is to protect the World Heritage Site and to preserve its outstanding universal value for future generations. The protection activities are regulated by the provisions of international documents, the Škocjan Caves Regional Park Act and the park’s management plan. These activities include monitoring of the water quality in the Reka River and meteorological surveys on the surface. Monitoring of the microclimate of the caves focuses on measuring the effects of tourism and monitoring the levels of radon, with the aim of the ensuring the safety of the park’s employees. Ensuring a favourable status for the underground habitats and species is laid down in the Natura 2000 management programme. Particular attention is paid to ensuring high-quality, safe visits to the caves and providing educational and awareness-raising activities on the surface of the park.

ABSTRACT Dinosaur Provincial Park (DPP) was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, but in 1955 the exceptional quality and abundance of dinosaur fossils were already recognized with 80 km 2 of the richest fossil beds being set aside as an Alberta, Canada, provincial park. DPP represents possibly the best window into the biology of the Late Campanian anywhere in the world. At present, more than 35 species of dinosaurs, 32 species of fish, 10 species of amphibians, 29 taxa of non-dinosaurian reptiles, 1 bird, and 20 taxa of mammals are known to have been discovered in DPP. The dinosaur fossils of DPP were first seriously collected in 1912, with many “trophy” specimens being sent to museums in Ottawa, Toronto, New York, Washington, and London among others. This initial rush of dinosaur fossil collecting persisted until the 1930s, but with declining effort and results. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, scientific study of the park resumed in earnest, and by the 1980s, the park was receiving the full attention of staff from the newly created Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, based in Drumheller. With modern scientific thinking and techniques being applied to its dinosaurian, and especially non-dinosaurian, fossils, the park is as important a resource as ever. Hydrocarbon exploration in Alberta has contributed immensely to our knowledge of the geological history of the province during the Cretaceous, thus enabling a better understanding of the factors, both physical and biological, that contributed to the creation, preservation, and subsequent exposure of the extensive fossil resources contained within DPP.

Abstract The knowledge that societies have of their geological environment and of the materials used in their heritage is of great importance for the sustainable use and conservation of traditional natural stone architecture. Similar weathering mechanisms occur in natural environments and the built environment and, in both cases, weathering may endanger both natural and built heritage. The Sierra de Guadarrama (Spanish Central System) is a privileged area in which natural and built heritage coexist. This paper describes an area of particular monumental and geological interest on the northern slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama; its main aim is to propose an itinerary for members of the public, presented as a route through the area around Segovia, in which architecture/cultural heritage and an Earth sciences approach are brought together with an educational purpose. To this end, some connections are established between weathering forms in natural and built environments, as well as between the lithological characteristics of the rocks used in construction of ancient monuments in the area and the distribution of stresses and loads of walls.

Abstract The career of the Austrian-born landscape painter Eugene von Guérard (1811–1901) was defined by his travels, which took him to Italy and Germany in the 1830s and 1840s and to Australia and New Zealand between 1852 and 1882. Today he is recognized as one of Australia’s greatest nineteenth-century landscape painters. His formative years coincided with the emergence of geology as an independent scientific discipline and a growing awareness in the wider community of the role played by volcanic activity and other geological processes in the formation of the Earth’s geomorphology. This new understanding was particularly pertinent to landscape painters, whose very subject was the form of the land; in Germany, where von Guérard trained and worked between 1838 and 1852, its relevance for landscape painters was emphasized by the influential natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt and the scientist, landscape painter and art theorist Carl Gustav Carus. They argued that the artist should paint from a geologically informed perspective. Von Guérard’s interest in volcanic geology was sparked by his experiences in southern Italy, consolidated in Germany on expeditions through the Harz and Eifel regions and then fully realized in response to the landscapes of southeastern Australia. Through his informed portrayal of sites of geological significance in each hemisphere and through the cultural value invested in them as a consequence of his depiction of them, von Guérard epitomized that recently conceived construct: the geotourist.