UNESCO names 18 new World Geoparks — World Points

Brazil: Caçapava Geopark

For the Guarani, an indigenous folks in Brazil, this geopark is “the place the place the jungle ends”, situated in Rio Grande do Sul State in southernmost Brazil. Its geological heritage, which consists of mining sulfide metals and marble, has been important for the area’s financial growth. Moreover its geodiversity, the geopark is residence to endangered cacti, bromeliads, endemic flowers, and bee species.

Brazil: Quarta Colônia Geopark

This geopark is situated within the south of Brazil between the Pampa and Atlantic Forest biomes. Its identify is a reference to the interval when Italians colonised the central a part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. There are colonial villas, traces of indigenous and settlements of the quilombolas (previously enslaved folks of African descent). The geopark can also be wealthy in fossils of animal and vegetation, relationship again 230 million years.

Greece: Lavreotiki Geopark

Well-known for the abundance and number of its mineralogical specimens, a lot of which had been first found within the space, this geopark is identified world wide for the silver that’s extracted from blended sulfide deposits. The area has been inhabited since antiquity resulting from its underground geological wealth and is at present residence to over 25,000 inhabitants. Lavreotiki additionally homes the Byzantine Holy Monastery of St Paul the Apostle.

Indonesia: Ijen Geopark

This gem is situated within the Banyuwangi and Bondowoso Regencies in East Java Province. Its location between the strait and the ocean has made it a crossroads for human migration and commerce. Ijen is among the most lively volcanoes within the Ijen caldera system. Due to a uncommon phenomenon, excessive concentrations of sulfur rise from the lively crater earlier than igniting as they encounter the oxygen-rich environment; because the fuel burns, it kinds an electrical blue flame which is exclusive, and solely seen at evening.

Indonesia: Maros Pangkep Geopark

This geopark is situated alongside the southern arm of the island of Sulawesi in the Maros and Pangkep Regencies. The native inhabitants is primarily composed of the indigenous peoples of Bugis and Makassarese. This archipelago lies within the Coral Triangle and serves as a centre for the conservation of coral reef ecosystems. The realm is greater than 100 million years previous.

Indonesia: Merangin Jambi Geopark

This geopark is residence to the distinctive fossils of “Jambi flora”, that are the solely uncovered fossilized crops of their type on the earth at present. These are situated within the central a part of Sumatra Island in Indonesia. The identify ‘Jambi flora’ refers to fossilized crops discovered as a part of a rock formation relationship from the Early Permian period (296 million years previous). The fossils embody mosses, primitive conifers and seed ferns, which reproduce by way of seed dispersal as an alternative of by means of spores.

Indonesia: Raja Ampat Geopark

This geopark’s territory consists of four main islands and is particular for having the oldest uncovered rock within the nation, which is nearly one-tenth as previous as Earth itself. Scuba-divers flock to the world, drawn by the great thing about the underwater caves and the extraordinary marine mega-biodiversity. Right here, they will observe rock artwork produced by prehistoric people who lived within the space a number of thousand years in the past.

Iran: Aras Geopark

The Aras River marks the northern restrict of this geopark situated in northwestern Iran on the southern finish of the Lesser Caucasus Mountain vary. This mountain vary acts as a pure barrier. It has created a spread of climates, in addition to wealthy geodiversity and biodiversity; it additionally hyperlinks completely different cultures on the northern and southern sides of the mountain chain.

Iran: Tabas Geopark

Many thinkers have referred to the 22,771 km² of desert in northwest South Khorasan Province the place this geopark is situated as “the geological paradise of Iran”. It is because one can comply with the evolution of the planet from the earliest a part of the Earth’s historical past 4.6 billion years in the past (the Precambrian) to the Early Cretaceous about 145 million years in the past with out the slightest interruption. The geopark is residence to the Naybandan Wildlife Refuge, the biggest in Iran, which covers an space of 1.5 million hectares and is crucial habitat of the Asian cheetah.

Japan: Hakusan Tedorigawa Geopark

Situated in central Japan, the place it follows the Tedori River from Mount Hakusan all the way down to the ocean, the Hakusan Tedorigawa Geopark information roughly 300 million years of historical past. It accommodates rocks that had been fashioned by the collision of continents. It additionally has strata containing fossils of dinosaurs which accrued in rivers and lakes on land at a time when Japan was hooked up to the Eurasian continent.

Malaysia: Kinabalu Geopark

Mount Kinabalu dominates this geopark within the State of Sabah on the northern finish of the island of Borneo. The best mountain mendacity between the Himalayas and New Guinea, Mount Kinabalu has been attracting explorers for over a century. Protecting an space of 4,750 km², the geopark is residence to many endemic crops and animals, together with 90 orchid species that exist solely on Mount Kinabalu, and the crimson-headed partridge fowl not discovered anyplace else on Earth.

New Zealand: Waitaki Whitestone Geopark

New Zealand’s first UNESCO Global Geopark lies on the east coast of the South Island. The landscapes, rivers and tides of this geopark have huge cultural significance for the native indigenous folks, the Ngāi Tahu whānui. The geopark provides distinctive insights into the historical past of the Earth’s eighth continent, Zealandia, or Te Riu-a-Māui in Maori. The geopark supplies proof of the formation of Zealandia, which broke away from the traditional supercontinent of Gondwana round 80 million years in the past.

Norway: Sunnhordland Geopark

The landscapes in this geopark vary from glacier-covered alpine mountains to archipelagos with hundreds of islands located on the strand-flat alongside the coast. The geological panorama shows textbook examples of glacial erosion that occurred throughout 40 ice ages. The Hardangerfjord Fault separates a billion years of geological evolution.

Philippines: Bohol Island Geopark

The Philippines’ first UNESCO World Geopark, Bohol Island, sits within the Visayas island group. The island’s geological identification has been pieced collectively over 150 million years, as intervals of tectonic turbulence have raised the island from the ocean depths. The geopark abounds in karstic geosites corresponding to caves, sinkholes and cone karst, together with the well-known cone-shaped Chocolate Hills within the centre of the geopark.

Republic of Korea: Jeonbuk West Coast Geopark

This geopark tells 2.5 billion years of well-exposed geological historical past within the western a part of the nation. The huge tidal flats dotted with volcanoes and islands enable us to journey by means of time to piece collectively components of the Earth’s historical past. Jeonbuk West Coast UNESCO World Geopark has already been acknowledged by UNESCO as a pure and cultural World Heritage property and as a biosphere reserve.

Spain: Cabo Ortegal Geopark

Take a journey into the inside of our planet by discovering rocks that emerged from the depths of the Earth virtually 400 million years in the past in what’s now Cabo Ortegal UNESCO Global Geopark. This geopark supplies a few of the most full proof in Europe of the collision that prompted Pangea, a course of often called the Variscan Orogeny. A lot of the rocks on this geopark had been delivered to the floor by the collision of two continents, Laurussia and Gondwana, which might ultimately be part of the supercontinent Pangaea about 350 million years in the past.

Thailand: Khorat Geopark

This geopark is usually situated within the LamTakhong river basin on the southwestern margin of the Khorat Plateau in Nakhon Ratchasima Province in northeast Thailand. The distinctive geological characteristic of the area is the range and abundance of fossils ranging in age from 16 million to 10,000 years. A wide range of dinosaurs and different animal fossils like historical elephants have been present in Mueang District.

United Kingdom: Mourne Gullion, Strangford

This geopark tells the story of how two oceans developed over 400 million years of geological historical past. It charts the closure of the Iapetus Ocean and the beginning of the North Atlantic Ocean, which generated massive quantities of molten rock (or magma) each throughout the Earth’s crust and on the floor. The geopark is situated within the southeast of Northern Eire, adjoining to the border with the Republic of Eire.