Property2021 themes (main)
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CriteriaCategoryStateRegion Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks12, 6The Burgess Shale is one of the most significant fossil areas in the world. Exquisitely preserved fossils record a diverse, abundant marine community dominated by soft-bodied organisms. Originating soon after the rapid unfolding of animal life about 540 million years ago, the Burgess Shale fossils provide key evidence of the history and early evolution of most animal groups known today, and yield a more complete view of life in the sea than any other site for that time period. The seven parks of the Canadian Rockies are a classic representation of significant and on-going glacial processes along the continental divide on highly faulted, folded and uplifted sedimentary rocks.
Theme 1: The Burgess Shale, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Property in 1980 for its world-renown fossils of Cambrian soft-bodied marine animals, is now included in this property. Theme 2: The contiguous national parks of Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho, as well as the Mount Robson, Mount Assiniboine and Hamber provincial park forms a striking mountain landscape. Theme 6: Includes large areas of limestones and dolomites. Outstanding example of glaciokarst terrain. Many karren, subterranean streams, springs and caves. Columbia Icefield partly overlies and intrudes Castleguard Cave.
1984 (1990)(vii)(viii)NaturalCanadaEurope and North America Canaima National Park32, 5, 6No approved retrospective Statement of OUV, but the inscription references the following Earth science values: Three different erosion surfaces are to be found within the park. The oldest rocks are Precambrian and, around 1,700 million years old, are some of the oldest on the planet. Above these are younger formations which have been weathered into mountains by 500 million years of erosion. The geology provides evidence that South America and Africa once formed part of a single continent. The property displays a distinctive and outstanding tepui landscape, which is still evolving in response to natural processes at large scale. The landscape also demonstrates the interaction of the indigenous Pemón with the environment both because of the great use the Pemón make of the park’s natural resources and because of the way the park’s landscape and vegetation has been shaped by the Pemón.
Theme 3: Tabular hills and high escarpments with significant karstic erosion of quartzites. Theme 2: Roughly 65% of the park is covered by table mountain (tepui) formations. Theme 5: Angel Falls in Canaima Natinal Park is the highest waterfalls in the world. Theme 6: The most outstanding example in the world of cave development in quartzite (Precambrian age). Caves occur to 10.8 km long and 383 m deep. Enclosed depressions and stream- sinks on plateau (tepuy) surface around 2,650 m. Springs emerge in tepuy walls. A fluviokarst landscape.
1994(vii)(viii) (ix)(x)NaturalVenezu- elaLatin America and the Caribbean
Annex 1: Table of geological World Heritage
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Property2021 themes (main)
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CriteriaCategoryStateRegion Carlsbad Caverns National Park6Carlsbad Caverns National Park is one of the few places in the world where on-going geologic processes are most apparent and rare speleothems continue to form, enabling scientists to study geological processes in a virtually undisturbed environment. These speleothems include helictites forming underwater, calcite and gypsum speleothems, and an astonishing collection of ‘biothems’, cave formations assisted in their formation by bacteria. Researchers can study both the Capitan reef’s inside through cave passages that penetrate in and through it as well as eroded canyon-exposed cross sections outside.
Theme 6: Huge caverns extensively decorated with speleothems are a major feature of the park. The 81 known caves mainly occur in uplifted Permian reef limestones. Outstanding karst extends into neighbouring Guadalupe National Park. The region’s caves provide the world’s foremost example of evolution by sulphuric acid dissolution, which occurred progressively between 12 and 4 million years ago. Surface topography on backreef dolomites and limestones is dominated by dry valleys. High biodiversity, including about 1 million bat population.
1995(vii)(viii)NaturalUnited States of America
Europe and North America Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst
6The property Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst, while typical of many karst localities in Europe, is distinctive in its great number (with 712 recorded at time of inscription) of different types of caves found in a concentrated area. Geological processes causing karst features to be buried by sediment and then later reactivated or exhumed provide evidence pertaining to the geologic history of the last tens of millions of years. Relicts of pre-Pleistocene karst (i.e. more than about 2 million years old) are very distinct in the area, and many of them show evidence for sub-tropical and tropical climate forms. These include rounded hills that are relicts of tropical karst later modified by Pleistocene periglacial weathering. This suite of paleokarst features, showing a combination of both tropical and glacial climates, is very unusual and is probably better documented in the Slovak Karst than anywhere else in the world.
Theme 6: Area contains 712 caves. Variety of cave types, including Dobšinská Ice Cave, and speleothem forms with stalagmites to 32.7 m high. Surface landscape is a temperate doline karst with some evidence of a prior humid tropical or subtropical influence, which has evolved intermittently since the Cretaceous 1995 (2000)(viii)NaturalHungary, SlovakiaEurope and North America
Annex 1: Table of geological World Heritage
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Property2021 themes (main)
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CriteriaCategoryStateRegion Chaîne des Puys - Limagne fault tectonic arena
2Continental drift, manifested through plate tectonics, is an essential paradigm for the history of the Earth as it explains the current make-up of oceans and continents and their past and future movements. The property is an exceptional illustration of the phenomenon of continental break-up, or rifting, which is one of the five major stages of plate tectonics. The Chaîne des Puys - Limagne fault tectonic arena presents a coincident view of all the representative processes of continental break-up and reveals their intrinsic links. The geological formations of the property, and their specific layout, illustrate with clarity this planet-wide process and its effects on a large and small scale on the landscape. This concentration has a demonstrated global significance in terms of its completeness, density and expression and has contributed to the site’s prominence since the 18th century for the study of classical geological processes.
Theme 2: Situated in the centre of France, the property comprises the long Limagne fault, the alignments of the Chaîne des Puys volcanoes and the inverted relief of the Montagne de la Serre. It is an emblematic segment of the West European Rift, created in the aftermath of the formation of the Alps, 35 million years ago. The geological features of the property demonstrate how the continental crust cracks, then collapses, allowing deep magma to rise and cause uplifting at the surface. The property is an exceptional illustration of continental break-up – or rifting – which is one of the five major stages of plate tectonics.
2018(viii)NaturalFranceEurope and North America
Annex 1: Table of geological World Heritage
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Property2021 themes (main)
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CriteriaCategoryStateRegion Chengjiang Fossil Site1The Chengjiang Fossil Site presents an exceptional record of the rapid diversification of life on Earth during the early Cambrian Period, 530 million years before present. In this geologically short interval almost all major groups of animals had their origins. The property is a globally outstanding example of a major stage in the history of life, representing a palaeobiological window of great significance. The exceptional palaeontological evidence of the Chengjiang Fossil Site is unrivalled for its rich species diversity. To date at least 16 phyla, plus a variety of enigmatic groups, and about 196 species have been documented. Taxa recovered range from algae, through sponges and cnidarians to numerous bilaterian phyla, including the earliest known chordates. The earliest known specimens of several phyla such as cnidarians, ctenophores, priapulids, and vertebrates occur here. Many of the taxa represent the stem groups to extant phyla and throw light on characteristics that distinguish major taxonomic groups. The property displays excellent quality of fossil preservation including the soft and hard tissues of animals with hard skeletons, along with a wide array of organisms that were entirely soft-bodied, and therefore relatively unrepresented in the fossil record. Almost all of the soft-bodied species are unknown elsewhere. Fine-scale detailed preservation includes features as the alimentary systems of animals, for example of the arthropod Naraoia, and the delicate gills of the enigmatic Yunnanozoon. The sediments of Chengjiang provide what are currently the oldest known fossil chordates, the phylum to which all vertebrates belong. The fossils and rocks of the Chengjiang Fossil Site, together, present a complete record of an early Cambrian marine community. It is one of the earliest records of a complex marine ecosystem, with food webs capped by sophisticated predators. Moreover, it demonstrates that complex community structures had developed very early in the Cambrian diversification of animal life, and provides evidence of a wide range of ecological niches. The property thus provides a unique window of understanding into the structure of early Cambrian communities
Theme 1: Chengjiang’s fossils present the most complete record of an early Cambrian marine community with exceptionally preserved soft-bodied and shelly fossils, comprising more than 200 species representing at least sixteen phyla of early animals.
2012(viii)NaturalChinaAsia and the Pacific
Annex 1: Table of geological World Heritage
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CriteriaCategoryStateRegion China Danxia3China Danxia contains a wide variety of well- developed red-beds landforms such as peaks, towers, mesas, cuestas, cliffs, valleys, caves and arches. Being shaped by both endogenous forces (including uplift) and exogenous forces (including weathering and erosion), China Danxia provides a range of different aspects of the phenomenon of physical landscape developed from continental (terrestrial) reddish conglomerate and sandstone in a warm, humid monsoon climate, illustrating both the range of landforms in relation to the forces and processes that formed them. The component parts represent the best examples of ‘least eroded’ to ‘most eroded’ Danxia landforms, displaying a clear landform sequence from ‘young’ through ‘mature’ to ‘old age’, and with each component part displaying characteristic geomorphologic features of a given stage.
Theme 3: Diverse erosional topographies on continental red beds, predominantly sandstone and conglomerate
2010(vii)(viii)NaturalChinaAsia and the Pacific Desembarco del Granma National Park
67The uplifted marine terraces of Desembarco del Granma National Park (DGNP), and the continuing development of karst topography and features, are a globally significant illustration of geomorphologic and physiographic features and ongoing geological processes. DGNP displays a rare relief formed by the combination of tectonic movements in the still active contact zone between two tectonic plates and the effects of past sea level change in response to climate fluctuations. The karst forms include escarpments, cliffs, cave systems, river canyons and large sinkholes known as dolines in most diverse sizes and shapes.
Theme 6, 7: Spectacular staircase of uplifted coral terraces around Cabo Cruz that support ongoing development of karst landforms. Terraces extend from -180 m offshore to 460 m inland and reflect a combination of tectonic and glacio-eustatic processes. Excellent examples of littoral karst. Relatively recent uplift has permitted the commencement of karstification.
1999(vii)(viii)NaturalCubaLatin America and the Caribbean
Annex 1: Table of geological World Heritage
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CriteriaCategoryStateRegion Dinosaur Provincial Park1The property is outstanding in the number and variety of high quality specimens representing every known group of Cretaceous dinosaurs. The diversity affords excellent opportunities for paleontology that is both comparative and chronological. Over 350 articulated specimens from the Oldman and Dinosaur Park formations including more than 150 complete skeletons now reside in more than 30 major museums. In addition to the significant number of high quality specimens, the property contains a complete assemblage of non-dinosaurian fossil material offering an unparalleled opportunity for the study of the Late Cretaceous paleo- ecosystem.
Theme 1: Dinosaur Provincial Park contains some of the most important fossil discoveries ever made from the Cretaceous, in particular about 35 species of dinosaurs dating back some 75 million years.
1979(vii)(viii)NaturalCanadaEurope and North America Dorset and East Devon Coast17The coastal exposures along the Dorset and East Devon coast provide an almost continuous sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rock formations spanning the Mesozoic Era and document approximately 185 million years of Earth’s history. The property includes a range of globally significant fossil localities - both vertebrate and invertebrate, marine and terrestrial - which have produced well preserved and diverse evidence of life during Mesozoic times. It also contains textbook exemplars of coastal geomorphological features, landforms and processes. Renowned for its contribution to Earth science investigations for over 300 years, the Dorset and East Devon coast has helped foster major contributions to many aspects of geology, palaeontology and geomorphology and has continuing significance as a high quality teaching, training and research resource for the Earth sciences.
Theme 1: Superb coastal exposures provide an almost continuous sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rock formations spanning the Mesozoic Era and document approximately 185 million years of Earth history. Theme 7: It also contains textbook exemplars of coastal geomorphological features, landforms and processes.
2001(viii)NaturalUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Europe and North America
Annex 1: Table of geological World Heritage
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CriteriaCategoryStateRegion Durmitor National Park3Durmitor National Park harbours a wealth of geological and geomorphological features of major scientific interest which have been shaping the landscape, such as the many remarkable Karst phenomena. The dominant geological features are very thick, often savagely contorted limestone formations of the Middle and Upper Triassic, Upper Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous though more recent rocks are also present. One particularity is the so-called Durmitor Flysch, a term used for tectonic layers inclined at an angle of 90 degrees in the Durmitor Massif. The sheer walls of the many canyons, and in particular, those of the spectacular Tara River Gorge of more than 60 km, are not only fundamental landscape features of the park but also expose magnificent rock formations. Less known but no less fascinating is the underground world of the property. It includes Montenegro’s deepest cave and subterranean rivers draining some of the glacial lakes. In particular, the ‘Ice Cave’ is a visually stunning and a rare relict of past glaciation.
Theme 3: This breathtaking national park was formed by glaciers and is traversed by rivers and underground streams. The Tara River canyon which has the deepest gorges in Europe.
1980 (2005)(vii)(viii)(x)NaturalMontene- groEurope and North America El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve
104The property’s desert and volcanic landforms provide an exceptional combination of features of great scientific interest. The vast sea of sand dunes that surrounds the volcanic shield is considered the largest and most active dune system in North America. It includes a diverse range of dunes that are nearly undisturbed, and include spectacular and very large star-shaped dunes that occur both singly and in long ridges up to 48km in length. The volcanic exposures provide important complementary geological values, and the desert environment assures a dramatic display of a series of impressive large craters and more than 400 cinder cones, lava flows, and lava tubes. Taken together the combination of Earth science features is an impressive laboratory for geological and geomorphological studies.
Theme 10: The property includes part of the Sonoran Desert, with star dunes and linear dunes of considerable height. Theme 4: The 714,566 ha property comprises two distinct parts: the dormant volcanic Pinacate Shield of black and red lava flows and more than 400 monogenetic cinder cones and maars of Holocene age.
2013(vii)(viii)(x)NaturalMexicoLatin America and the Caribbean Everglades National Park5, 7The Everglades is a vast, nearly flat, seabed that was submerged at the end of the last Ice Age. Its limestone substrate is one of the most active areas of modern carbonate sedimentation.
Theme 5, 7: A river of grass flowing imperceptibly from the hinterland into the sea 1979(viii)(ix)(x)NaturalUnited States of America Europe and North America
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CriteriaCategoryStateRegion Fraser Island7The property represents an outstanding example of significant ongoing geological processes including longshore drift. The immense sand dunes are part of the longest and most complete age sequence of coastal dune systems in the world and are still evolving. The superimposition of active parabolic dunes on remnants of older dunes deposited during periods of low sea level, which are stabilised by towering rainforests at elevations of up to 240 m, is considered unique. Fraser Island also has a variety of freshwater dune lakes which are exceptional in terms of number, diversity and age. The dynamic interrelationship between the coastal dune sand mass, aquifer hydrology and the freshwater dune lakes provides a sequence of lake formation both spatially and temporally. The process of soil formation on the island is also unique, since as a result of the successive overlaying of dune systems, a chronosequence of podzol development from the younger dune systems on the east to the oldest systems on the west change from rudimentary profiles less than 0.5 m thick to giant forms more than 25 m thick. The latter far exceeds known depths of podzols anywhere else in the world and has a direct influence on plant succession, with the older dune systems causing retrogressive succession when the soil horizon becomes too deep to provide nutrition for tall forest species.
Theme 7: Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. The combination of shifting sand-dunes, tropical rainforests and lakes makes it an exceptional site.
1992(vii)(viii) (ix)NaturalAustraliaAsia and the Pacific
Annex 1: Table of geological World Heritage
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CriteriaCategoryStateRegion Galápagos Islands2, 47, 8The archipelago´s geology begins at the sea floor and emerges above sea level where biological processes continue. Three major tectonic plates—Nazca, Cocos and Pacific— meet at the basis of the ocean, which is of significant geological interest. In comparison with most oceanic archipelagos, the Galápagos are very young with the largest and youngest islands, Isabela and Fernandina, with less than one million years of existence, and the oldest islands, Española and San Cristóbal, somewhere between three to five million years. The property demonstrates the evolution of the younger volcanic areas in the west and the older islands in the east. On-going geological and geomorphological processes, including recent volcanic eruptions, small seismic movements, and erosion provide key insights to the puzzle of the origin of the Galápagos Islands. Almost no other site in the world offers protection of such a complete continuum of geological and geomorphological features.
Theme 2, 4: Situated in the Pacific Ocean some 1,000 km from the South American continent, these 19 islands and the surrounding marine reserve have been called a unique ‘living museum and showcase of evolution’. Ongoing seismic and volcanic activity reflects the processes that formed the islands. Theme 7, 8: The archipelago´s geology begins at the sea floor and emerges above sea level.
1978 (2001)(vii)(viii) (ix)(x)NaturalEcuadorLatin America and the Caribbean Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast
4The geological activity of the Cenozoic Era is clearly illustrated by the succession of the lava flows and interbasaltic beds which are in evidence on the Causeway Coast. Interpretation of the succession has allowed a detailed analysis of Tertiary events in the North Atlantic. The extremely regular columnar jointing of the Tholeiitic basalts is a spectacular feature which is displayed in exemplary fashion at the Giant’s Causeway. The Causeway itself is a unique formation and a superlative horizontal section through columnar basalt lavas.
Theme 4: The Giant’s Causeway lies at the foot of the basalt cliffs along the sea coast on the edge of the Antrim plateau in Northern Ireland. It is made up of some 40,000 massive black basalt columns sticking out of the sea. The dramatic sight has inspired legends of giants striding over the sea to Scotland. Geological studies of these formations over the last 300 years have greatly contributed to the development of the Earth sciences, and show that this striking landscape was caused by volcanic activity during the Paleogene, some 50–60 million years ago.
1986(vii)(viii)NaturalUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Europe and North America
Annex 1: Table of geological World Heritage
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Property2021 themes (main)
2021 themes (ancil- lary)
Justification under criterion (viii)Relationship to identified themesDate inscribed (extension)
Justification under criterion (viii)Relationship to identified themesDate inscribed (extension)