What is geoheritage?

Even though nature protection is primarily based on protecting living organisms and ecosystems, the protection of geological and geomorphological natural resources, also called non-living nature, has a long-standing tradition and is becoming increasingly interesting. The records in the rocks allow us to take a peek back into the Earth's past: fossil plant and animal remains teach us of the development of the living world over millions of years; wrinkles and rifts tell us of what happened to the Earth's core; minerals surprise us with their crystallisation in proper geometric forms, amazing colours and fantastic brilliance; volcanoes continue to prove to us that the heated Earth's interior is powerful and fickle.

The geological foundation determines what the soil will be like, where water will appear, how streams and rivers will flow, where the mountains will rise up, and where caves and pits will form. And in doing so, it affects all the life on Earth. Through the protection of geoheritage, we are able to protect a most representative slice of the history of our planet that is 4.5 billion years old, we can admire the forces of the past and learn for the future.

Geodiversity is the diversity of the geological foundation, such as rocks, minerals, fossils, relief and the processes that created these distinctive formations over the Earth's history. Studying the rocks allows us to follow the development of life on Earth, track the climatic changes, the processes that formed the mountains, oceans and continents. Every country has geological and geomorphological values that make up its geoheritage.

Literature: Zwicker, G., Žeger Pleše, I., Zupan, I.(2008): Zaštićena geobaština Republike Hrvatske, Državni zavod za zaštitu prirode, Zagreb