Abstract Products of geological processes, such as rock formations, unconformities, structures, minerals, fossils and landforms, represent unique records of the evolution of the Earth. These form a coherent picture showing how the Earth evolved, but the picture becomes blurred with antiquity. Consequently, there are challenges in gathering information from the Archean, the period during which the foundations of the Earth were laid down. The 2.7 Ga Belingwe Greenstone Belt in Zimbabwe has proved to be valuable because it has some of the best-preserved Archean stratigraphy in the world. An unconformity between sialic basement and supracrustal rocks of the greenstone belt, and exotic rocks, such as komatiites and stromatolites, contributes immensely toward our knowledge of the evolution of the young Earth and the beginning of life. The frequent use of the Belingwe Greenstone Belt examples to explain geotectonic processes of the early Earth gives testimony to the importance of this structure. Interpretation of some of the features of the Greenstone Belt is sometimes controversial, which forms areas of endless research to better understand the Archean Era. It is for these reasons that arguments are presented for consideration of the Belingwe Greenstone Belt as a national geoheritage site.

Slope movements in the Lower Cambrian Cheshire Quartzite of the western Green Mountains in Vermont are characterized by block slides, rock falls, and more rarely, by toppling failures. Slides and falls occur on steep hillslopes underlain by massive quartzite, whereas topples are unique to thin-bedded, tectonically deformed quartzite containing interbeds of graphitic schist. Freeze-thaw mechanisms dominate displacements of massive blocks, while rainfall induces toppling displacements. Movement of massive blocks occurs primarily in early spring and late fall. Bedrock discontinuities, including microfractures, joints, and bedding surfaces, are of primary importance in facilitating initial slope breakup and in controlling the subsequent mode of downslope rock-mass movement. The results of investigations at three sites in the Cheshire-Quartzite show that movement rates are controlled by structural conditions and slope-development patterns. A typical freeze cycle during testing of a physical block model in the laboratory produced a displacement of 0.13 mm, which agrees reasonably well with the 0.26 mm annual displacements measured at two cliff-edge blocks at a rock-fall site. Gravity-induced toppling movements in much less massive quartzite are more rapid.