geology Archives | World Heritage Sites

View from a hill above the cliff over a bay with some of the cliff visible in the distance.

Stevns Klint

A long limestone cliff containing an exceptional fossil record of life on Earth both before and after the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.

A lake surrounded by mountains with a single kayaker in the lake.

Huascarán National Park

A beautiful mountainous landscape in the Andes, with a wide diversity of geological features and species.

A person stands on the side of a barren, rocky slope. Beyond him is a view of mountains.

Tajik National Park (Mountains of the Pamirs)

A vast and remote landscape of barren terrain, towering peaks and glaciers.

A rough cliff and a rocky beach below it, with a group of people listening to a guide.

Miguasha National Park

A cliff-side location with many well-preserved fossils from the period when species moved from sea to land.

View across the icefield, jagged and white.

Los Glaciares National Park

A landscape of breathtaking natural beauty with dramatic glaciers and jagged mountains.

A closer view of the white terraces shows several small pools of blue water.

Hierapolis-Pamukkale

A Greco-Roman spa town and the enormous calcium terraces, waterfalls, basins and pools where it is located.

On a river, the point of a kayak in the foreground; mountains on either side of the water.

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park

An area of extraordinary natural beauty with distinctive karst formations and cave ecosystems.

View over a lake with mountains in the distance.

Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley

Archeological sites showing evidence of 1.83 million years of continuous hominid habitation.

A view across a lake at a snow-capped mountain with a glacier down its side.

Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek

A huge trans-national site, significant in terms of geological processes, ecological zones, biodiversity and beauty.

View of a dry mountainous landscape with, below, two lakes of brilliant aqua blue.

Tongariro National Park

A beautiful park of volcanoes, lakes and waterfalls, perfect for hiking.

A big view over mountains and forests with clouds over the sea beyond.

Teide National Park

A geologically complex volcano and the otherworldly landscape around it.

A motorboat moored at a wooden dock. On the opposite shore mountains rise from the lake, forested below, sheer rock above.

Los Alerces National Park

A stunningly beautiful park with mountains, lakes and forests, and the second-oldest trees in the world.

A view of a broad stretch of Victoria Falls at is tumbles over a steep cliff.

Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls

A huge and exceedingly beautiful waterfall on the Zambezi River.

Wildlife walking left to right on a grassy plain: a hyena, several zebras and lots of wildebeest.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

A biodiverse ecosystem with massive annual wildlife migrations, a huge intact caldera, and important hominid fossil finds.

view of Mammoth Cave with the stalactites and stalagmites glowing with an orangy light.

Mammoth Cave National Park

An enormous cave system containing intricate rock formations that demonstrate. millions of years of geological processes.

An arch of ice on very smooth reflective water.

Ilulissat Icefjord

A fjord in Greenland where a very active glacier called Sermeq Kujalleq calves enormous icebergs into the sea: a breathtaking sight.

A park bench in the foreground, a big view of valley and mountains in the background.

Durmitor National Park

An area of dramatic mountainous scenery, dense forests, glacial lakes and deep canyons.

Two camels lying down in the foreground, desert floor beyond them and huge rocky mountains behind that.

Wadi Rum Protected Area

A desert landscape known for its beauty as well as its archeological importance.

A view of the vineyards seems to go on forever: very flat land, with small areas divided by lots of stone walls, vines growing between them, close to the ground.

Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture

Viniculture in a hostile environment made possible through human ingenuity.

The entrance to Geirangerfjord. Steep hills on either side, and big mountains in the background.

West Norwegian Fjords – Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord

The world’s largest and deepest fjords, and breathtakingly beautiful.

Looking across a flat, brown plain to, i nthe distance, mountains with a glacier between them.

Vatnajökull National Park – Dynamic Nature of Fire and Ice

A constantly-changing area where the continental rift, volcanoes and glaciers dramatically interact.

Looking down where a neat trail zigzags back and forth down toward the cave entrance farther down.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

A natural cave complex with extensive and varied rock formations.

A rock face covered in paintings in dark red depicting people and animals as well as boats and buildings and geometric patterns.

Chiribiquete National Park – “The Maloca of the Jaguar”

A large Amazonian forest with unusual rock formations and ancient rock paintings.

A view of the cliffs, which show distinct layers, each set back from the one below it.

Mistaken Point

A site containing fossils of the earliest complex organisms, marking an important turning point in evolutionary history.

View over the city. In the foreground, a large monument with a cross. Below, the city, with its grid of streets, and in the background, the volcano, its peak surrounded by clouds.

Antigua Guatemala

A lovely city that illustrates Spanish colonial-era architecture, city planning, and culture.

A gorgeous view of Doubtful sound as it cuts between mountains.

Te Wāhipounamu – South West New Zealand

A vast wilderness area of great natural beauty with mountains, fjords, sounds, rainforests, glaciers, and a range of fauna and flora.

Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve

A stunning landscape of granite pinnacles in a nature reserve protecting endemic species.

The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera

More than 1000 cave dwellings, churches and other rock-cut structures going back centuries.

Across a small lake, a mountain looms gray. Its face it cut in large steps until almost the very top of the mountain.

The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales

A region visibly shaped by its long-standing slate quarry industry.

A view along the coastline of white cliffs with flat grassy fields on top and the sea below.

Dorset and East Devon Coast

A coastline with 185 million years of interesting rock formations, invaluable for our understanding of geology and related sciences.

Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks

Seven parks encompassing all the grandeur of the Canadian Rockies with magnificent mountain scenery.

A person follows a boardwalk along the right side of the picture passing, on the left, a series of waterfalls into a pool of clear water.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Stunning waterfalls and lakes formed by natural tufa barriers.

A close-up of a section of "pavement", looking like uneven tiles of stone.

Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast

An area of seaside cliffs comprising polygonal stone columns that seemingly form a “pavement.”

Socotra Archipelago

Four Indian Ocean islands with extraordinary biodiversity and distinct endemic species.

A field with wildflowers with, in the background, a mountain that looks just like the face of a person lying on their back.

Antequera Dolmens Site

Megalithic tombs and the natural features that align with them.

Kilimanjaro National Park

A spectacular nature preserve centered around Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa.