On the Geological and Palaeontological Heritage of the Azores Archipelago and the Urgent need to Review the Geosites of the Azores UNESCO Geopark: A Comment on Lima & Meneses (2023), Geoconservation Research, 6: 114-127

Abstract

In a recent review article, Lima & Meneses (2023, Geoconservation Research, 6 (1): 114–127) reported on the Azores Geopark, introducing a new geosite for São Miguel Island. We here express our concerns regarding the data presented in this review article. In our commentary, we focus mainly on the use of older bibliographic sources and inaccurate age estimates for some islands, as well as the absence of important references, which results in a poor revision of the published literature on the geology and paleontology of the Azores Archipelago. Furthermore, and over ten years since the successful application to UNESCO for the implementation of the Azores Geopark, we stress the urgent need to re-evaluate the list of geosites selected by the Azores Geopark team, a task that we suggest could be done involving the collaboration of an expert and multidisciplinary scientific team.

Keywords

• azores archipelago
• azores geopark
• geoconservation
• geology
• international relevant geosites
• paleontology