Abstract European UNESCO Geoparks: Introduction to Part I
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Geoconservation Research 2021, Volume 4 / Issue 1 / pages(1-5) Editor in chief’s Note European UNESCO Geoparks: Introduction to Part I Michael J. Benton School of Earth Sciences, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK Abstract The concept of the volume is to survey all the key geoparks throughout Europe in terms of their palaeontological significance. The first 25 articles in this Part cover the long span of geological time from the Precambrian to the Permian, arranged Corresponding Author: Michael J. Benton in chronostratigraphic order. These document some of the most important early School of Earth Sciences, Univer- stages in the history of life, from its origin to the devastation end-Permian mass sity of Bristol, Life Sciences Build- extinction. ing, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK ORCID: 0000-0002-4323-1824 Email: [email protected] Keywords: Fossils, Paleontological heritage, UNESCO geoparks, Geoeducation, Geotourism, Geoconservation Article information DOI:10.30486/gcr.2021.683780 How to cite: Benton MJ (2021). European UNESCO Geoparks: Introduction to Part I. Geoconservation Research. 4(1).1-5. doi: 10.30486/gcr.2021.683780 Geoconservation Research e-ISSN: 2588-7343 p-ISSN: 2645-4661 © Author(s) 2020, this article is published with open access at http://gcr.khuisf.ac.ir This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License. 1 Geoconservation Research Volume 4 / Issue 1 2021 / pages(1-5) Introduction that can illustrate aspects of the palaeontology When Professor Dan Grigorescu accepted of each. our invitation to act as Guest Editor for this special volume on the ‘European UNESCO Precambrian Geoparks’ in early 2020, we did not expect it The Precambrian is not a formal stratigraph- would come together so quickly and so effi- ic division, but a name to designate the enor- ciently. This was achieved through Professor mous time span from the origin of the Earth to Grigorescu’s long-established leadership of the appearance of animals with skeletons and the initiative, over several decades, keeping shells, inaugurating a new informal division contact with colleagues throughout all coun- of geological time, the Phanerozoic, when tries in Europe, both through correspondence fossils became abundant and visible. The and encouragement and through several con- Precambrian comprises about 4 billion years ferences at which the ideas were shared and (88% of Earth history) and the Phanerozoic scientific and cultural relationships developed. the last 541 million years. Signs of life are very scarce in Precambrian, the most charac- During the intervening year, Professor Grig- teristic were the Cyanobacteria (autotrophic, orescu and I have worked together to discuss photosynthetic bacteria with a blue pigment). plans for the whole volume, as well as indi- Colonies of Cyanobacteria built finely lami- vidual chapters, and to encourage authors and nated limestones, stromatolites, one of the author collectives to produce their chapters. most common sedimentary rocks in the Pre- We asked them to prepare short papers in cambrian. By their photosynthetic activity, the which they describe the scientific reasons why Cyanobacteria had an essential role in the rise their Geopark is internationally important, of oxygenic life on Earth, releasing oxygen outline the history of research and the history into the water and then into the atmosphere. of establishment as a Geopark, and finally to The rise in atmospheric oxygen enabled other consider practical and educational aspects of forms of life to emerge, first comprising sin- the Geopark in terms of its development, its gle cells, then multiple cells, and by the end current state, and future plans. of the Precambrian, macroscopic early plants, animals and Fungi had evolved. Our overall aim is to document a coherent net- work of Geoparks that show the best of the The only Precambrian example is presented by geology and palaeontology of Europe, but Benton and colleagues, in their description of placed in global context, and to share ideas the Northwest Highlands UNESCO Geopark and initiatives that describe practical geocon- of Scotland, source of the oldest fossils in Eu- servation in context of education and tourism. rope, and some of the oldest simple life forms In many cases, contributors also describe the from fresh waters anywhere in the world. practical aspects of their Geoparks, how they negotiate with local and national administra- Cambrian tions, and the problems and pitfalls of main- The Cambrian (named after Cambria, the taining adequate funding. In his introductory Latin name of Wales, 541–485 million years chapter, Dan Grigorescu outlines the history ago, Ma) is the first geological period of the of the Geopark concept, especially its appli- Palaeozoic (“ancient life”) Era. The Cambri- cation in Europe, earlier conferences, and the an is marked by a major event in animal evo- key palaeontological themes. lution, the Cambrian Explosion, marking the apparently sudden diversification of animals In this Introduction, I review the key geologi- with mineral protective skeletons and shells, cal time divisions and the European Geoparks which means they can fossilize readily. Be- 2 European UNESCO Geopark fore the Cambrian, the number of metazoan predators and the establishment of more com- (= animal) phyla was limited to a few, and plex reefs. The first among the five great mass only those lacking mineralized skeletons. The extinctions occurred at the end of the period processes of biomineralization that started in when about 60% of all the marine organisms the Late Ediacaran (latest Precambrian) led disappeared. to the great diversification of animals, and by the end of the Cambrian almost all the present In this volume, we feature six Ordovician animal phyla had emerged. The mineral struc- geoparks, which document the GOBE in ex- tures of their skeletons, comprising calcite, traordinary detail, stepping through its Ear- apatite, silicate or chitin, ensured protection ly, Middle, and Late Ordovician phases. The from predation, but also a greater diversity of first is the Penha Garcia Ichnological Park at body forms. The appearance of biomineral- Naturtejo UNESCO Global Geopark in Por- ized hard parts also increased the likelihood of tugal, described by Carvalho and colleagues. fossil preservation which expanded the fossil This is particularly famous for 21 species of record and created a new source of material Cruziana, representing complex foraging for the formation of sediments. trails of trilobites. Trace fossils are also fea- tured at the Armorican Quartzite Bridge be- The Cambrian Explosion is documented in tween Villuercas-Ibores-Jara and Naturtejo the Villuercas-Ibores-Jara UNESCO Global UNESCO Global Geoparks, also described Geopark in Spain, described by Cortijo and by Carvalho and colleagues, a site known for colleagues, known especially for the early its remarkable preservation of the ichnofos- metazoan Cloudina, one of the first animals sil Daedalus, a complex feeding structure. with a skeleton. Next, in two papers, Alfaro These both bear witness to intensification of and colleagues describe the Early Cambrian bottom-feeding animals during the GOBE. In trilobites and associated faunas from the Si- the Middle Ordovician the next phase of the erra Norte de Sevilla Geopark, also in Spain, GOBE is also documented in the Naturtejo with its fauna of 12 trilobite species and asso- UNESCO Geopark in Portugal, in the form ciated hyolithids, serpulids and echinoderms , of diverse Darriwilian faunas, described by and its exceptionally preserved fossils in the Pereira and colleagues. Coming from anoth- Constantina-San Nicolás del Puerto area. A er Portuguese geopark, Sá and colleagues de- third geopark in Spain, the Courel Mountains scribe giant trilobites and other fossils from UNESCO Global Geopark, described by Ball- the Middle Ordovician of the Arouca UNES- esteros and colleagues, documents a long rock CO Global Geopark. The fourth contribution succession from Precambrian to Carbonifer- concerning the Nuturetejo Geopark in Portu- ous, including also Cambrian rocks with fa- gal is by Pereira and colleagues, in which they mous trilobite fossils. describe Upper Ordovician fossils. Finally, Cortijo and colleagues describe the Armori- Ordovician can Quartzite of the Villuercas-Ibores-Jara The Ordovician (after Ordovices, a Celtic UNESCO Global Geopark in Spain, which tribe in Wales, 485–444 Ma) is the second pe- documents the time when trilobites ruled the riod of the Palaeozoic. This time is marked by Ordovician seas. a second major diversification of marine ani- mals, the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Silurian Event (GOBE). New groups of animals ap- The Silurian (named after the Silures, a Celtic peared, including corals, graptolites and fish- tribe of Wales, 444–419 Ma) is marked by the es. In particular, there was an increase in the first clear evidence of life on land: remains of importance of suspension feeders and pelagic primitive vascular plants and remains of some 3 Geoconservation Research Volume 4 / Issue 1 2021 / pages(1-5) terrestrial arthropods. In the oceans there was fish in the shallow waters, but also land-living a widespread radiation of crinoids, a contin- prey. During the Late Devonian, the second of ued proliferation and expansion of brachio- the big five mass extinctions occurred, in at pods and the oldest known examples of coral least two bursts, during which about 50 % of reefs.