Gallery: 9 new geoparks endorsed by UNESCO

A glacier-covered volcano, 200-meter-high cliffs and other natural beauties have joined a UN-backed geopark list

By Tiffany Lam 20 September, 2011

Bauges, France

The Bauges Regional Park in the north-western French Alps resembles a fortress of rock from afar. The Bauges consists of massive, durable limestone cliffs dating back to the Cretaceous period, giving it a sharp relief. The Bauges is also home to wetlands, lakes, springs and caves.

Katla Geopark, Iceland

This geopark is named after the massive Katla volcano, but it’s famous for another -- Eyjafjallajökull, the volcano that paralyzed European air traffic in April 2010. The region is characterized by volcanic craters, lava fields, glaciers and mountains. This photo shows glacier snout Solheimajokul, which forms part of the Myrdalsjokull icecap.

Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark, Ireland

This geopark, located on the west coast of Ireland, is a landscape of limestone hills and plateaus, sheer cliffs that drop into the sea, and waterways that plunge underground to emerge from a vast network of caves. The park’s star attraction is the Cliffs of Moher, pictured left, which reach up to 214 meters at the highest point. Traces of a 6,000-year-old human settlement can be found in the area.

Hong Kong Geopark, China

Hong Kong Geopark packs a punch despite its relative small size of 49.85 square kilometers. The national park covers Hong Kong's wildly beautiful geological forms, a result of erosion from strong incoming waves along 150 kilometers of coastline. Rock nerds will delight at the park's rare polygonal rock columns, which are pictured here. Parts of the geopark date back 520 million years.

Apuan Alps, Italy

The Apuan Alps run across north-western Tuscany in central Italy to the northern boundary of the peninsula. The park is home to many native species, as well as deep canyons and large karst caves. Apuan Alps is famous for its marble, known as Carrara marble, from which Michelangelo's David was sculpted.

Muroto Geopark, Japan

Muroto Geopark, Japan: This mountainous headland in western Japan was once submerged by the sea, but has been thrown up by earthquakes over thousands of years. It is a prime spot for scientific study for the prediction of large quakes and tsunamis.

Tianzhu Shan Geopark, China

Tianzhu Shan Geopark in China’s Anhui province is a vast mountainous landscape, with the granite peaks, caves, waterfalls and springs. Attractions of the area include fossils of mammals and eclogites, a particularly dense rock formed under extreme pressure that drives convection within the solid Earth. The park offers well-marked hiking trails, museums and home stays.

Sierra Norte de Sevilla Geopark, Spain

This geopark is one of the largest natural parks in Andalusia. It contains rocks that date back to the earliest stages of Earth’s history.

Villuercas Ibores Jara Geopark, Spain

This mineral-rich outcrop contains vestiges of a mining culture and colorful monoliths that date back to the Bronze and Iron ages.

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Excuse us while we gush over the mineral marvels pictured above, taken at the nine geologically important sites that have been added to the Global Network of National Geoparks over the weekend.

The Global Network of National Geoparks is a UNESCO-backed list set up in 2004 to promote better management of the world's geological heritage. With the new additions, the network now has 87 sites from 27 countries.

To qualify as a geopark, not only does a site have to be geologically rare and scientifically important, it also has to be managed with a plan for sustainable development, the United Nations stated. Bonus points are given if the area benefits from healthy ecotourism.

The sites that were inscribed this year range from a glacier-covered volcano in Iceland to a Spanish park that contains some of the Earth's oldest rock. Other new members hail from China, France, Ireland, Italy and Japan.

Find out more about each site in the photo gallery above.

More on CNNGo: Gallery: UNESCO adds 12 sites to its World Heritage List

The nine sites were selected out of 16 applications at the three-day European Geoparks Conference in Norway on September 18.

Former CNNGo staff writer Tiffany Lam produced and scripted current affairs documentaries and was a reporter for a local English newspaper before making the brave, brave decision to write about things she’s actually interested in.