The first 100 IUGS (International Union of Geological Sciences) geological heritage sites / Первые 100 объектов геологического наследия IUGS (Международный союз геологических наук)

An IUGS Geological Heritage Site is a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history

It is a pleasure to see this volume on the Earth’s 100 geological heritage sites, and I thank the many contributors to its production.

The IUGS is the global voice of the geological sciences and brings together more than   million geologists world-wide in more than 100 countries. It was created 60 years ago in response to the need to correlate global geological successions and a shared common understanding of the history of the Earth. The IUGS stratigraphic chart is the global standard and underpins many significant geological findings and the economic development of the planet - we continue to improve this. However, the creation of the IUGS was prior to the advent of digital technology, which now means that information can be shared much more readily and that IUGS must now also be able to respond to one of the most important challenges for geoscientists at the present time - mitigating the effects of climate change. <...>