Tunceli province, situated in Eastern Türkiye, possesses a unique sociocultural identity despite its relatively small population of ninety thousand. The local legends were compiled by the Tunceli Governorship and the Fırat Development Agency, along with verification from other sources. This study investigates geomyths reported in this region, which are connected to geological processes. These geomyths have been categorized into three groups: 1) Water-related: Munzur Baba Legend, Gelin Pınarı-Dereova Waterfall Legend, Ağlayan Kayalar; 2) Cave and Weathering Process-related: Düzgün Baba Legend, Gelin Odaları-Bride's Room and Caves; 3) Mountain-related: Yılan Dağı (Snake Mountain) Legend, Süpürgeç Baba Legend, Arap Kızı Dağı (Arabian Girl) Legend. These legends reflect the influence of the Alevi culture (local faith), which emphasizes purity, cleanliness, good morals, and respect. The Alevi tradition of ziyaret (pilgrimage) to sacred sites has contributed to the prominence of locations such as Munzur Baba (karst features influenced by glaciation) and Düzgün Baba (pseudokarst and weathering structures in pyroclastics). These sacred sites, fostering a sense of moral and spiritual unity among the local community, hold significant potential for geopark development (planned for Munzur Valley), thereby stimulating the regional economy.

The Perşani Volcanic Field (PVF) is the youngest and the smallest (as territory and volcano numbers) manifestation of mafic intracontinental monogenetic volcanism in the Carpathian-Pannonian Region, eastern-central Europe. Eruptions of basaltic magmas took place behind a slab roll-back segment of the Vrancea zone between 1.25 Ma and 0.65 Ma. It is still a geodynamically active region, where further volcanic activity cannot be excluded. The PVF provides an excellent area, where wide range of products of basaltic volcanism can be observed in a restricted area and therefore it can play a significant role in education and geotourism. Lava flows and shallow intrusions are represented by columnar as well as platy and curvilinear jointed basalts. There are scoria cones with unique exposures of proximal and distal deposits and maar structures with hydrovolcanic pyroclastic successions including ballistic impact sag structures. In addition, large number of mantle-derived ultramafic xenoliths are found both in the basalt lava rocks and also in the maar volcanic pyroclastic rocks. The well-preserved volcanic structures form unique geoheritage and in combination with historic and cultural heritage this offers a potential to establish a geopark, where visitors can learn about volcanic rocks and processes. This study summarizes the initial comprehensive findings of the regional geosite inventory and evaluate the volcanic geosites. The geosite assessment was carried out by combination of two widely used quantitative methods. The results highlight the current status of the volcanic geosites, demonstrating their strengths and weaknesses from touristic, educational, and scientific perspectives. Based on the assessment results, the most representative 10 volcanic geosites were selected and described in detail. Finally, the preliminary assessment also provides new data for territorial management and tourism development, as well as regional geoconservation plans, which could help to establish a potential UNESCO Global Geopark project in the near future.

Remote islands are a focus of great interest for biodiversity studies, and it is common to neglect their geodiversity that conditions the composition and evolution of the biotic component of nature. Just like endemic species, which stand out in the composition of the biodiversity of remote islands, geosites are places that represent geological processes and products that characterize the genesis and evolution of these islands. The geological heritage of the island of São Tomé, located in the Gulf of Guinea (West Africa), was previously described based on several selected geosites. The main objective of this work is to present the complete inventory of the geological heritage of São Tomé Island, based on detailed field analysis of its different stratigraphic units, and using an evaluation methodology that considers the specificities of oceanic islands in a low to middle income social context. The results provide an overview of all the geosites on the island, which are described in accordance with its main geological interests and intended for public understanding. Such records allow the dissemination of geosciences in communities with low levels of scientific literacy and can be used to advance geoscience, improve geoeducation, and promote geotourism. In the long term, it is expected that this will have the effect of reducing poverty among the population whose income depends significantly on tourism activity.

Differences are conspicuous in the perception of some terms of geopark terminology such as geosite, geoheritage, geoconservation, and geodiversity in the publications of Turkish researchers, as well as in international research and publications on geoparks. This different perception hinders the unity of language in geopark studies and causes confusion in conceptual expression. This study aims to understand and discuss the meaning and conceptual perceptions of the main geopark terms of Turkish researchers by analyzing their geopark-themed studies and national/international publications. In the analysis, a total of 100 publications of Turkish researchers, 71 national and 29 international publications on geopark themes published after the referee process were evaluated. The 100 publications were classified according to the origin of the author’s discipline, whether the publication was national or international, cited publications related to the basic concepts of geoparks, and the conceptual meaning in the most cited publications and the conceptual perception in the articles were discussed. The results of the analysis highlighted the following findings. There is no common perception in the use of the prefix Geo in Geopark terminology on a national scale and the prefix Geo is perceived differently between Turkish geologists and geographer authors. It is understood that Turkish geographers generally use terms such as geoheritage, geosite, geodiversity, geoconservation, etc., in their national and international publications. While Turkish geologist authors mostly use the prefix Geo in their international publications, they prefer the terms geological heritage, geological site, geological diversity, geological protection, etc., for the same basic concepts in their national publications. The use of basic geopark terms in the articles of authors with other backgrounds is mainly similar to the approach of authors with geology background. The conclusion of this discussion is that the difference in conceptual perception of geopark terms is a problem for the geopark integrity strategy, and that it would be better to ensure linguistic unity with terminology such as geosite, geoheritage, geoconservation, and geodiversity.

External building stone has been recorded in 124 medieval churches in a 1200 km2 area in south Cambridgeshire, UK. Each component (e.g. walling, windows, doors) in each architectural part (e.g. tower, nave, aisles, chancel) of each church has been separately recorded, generating over 2000 records of construction or repair projects. Every project has been dated from documentary records or architectural style, allowing analysis of stone use in both space and time. The pre-Reformation churches of the area mostly have rubble walls of local Fieldstone and Clunch (Cretaceous Chalk), and imported Jurassic limestone from Barnack, 60 km to the northwest. Less common are ashlar walls of Clunch or Barnack. The medieval dressings clearly show the use of local Clunch in less exposed positions but of the weather-resistant imported Barnack stone for exposed locations. This use of Barnack was despite the transport costs for the circuitous inland waterway journey of about 110 km. The amount of imported Barnack stone in windows and doors is probably a good indicator of a church’s medieval wealth. Dressings of Clunch were much repaired or wholly replaced during the nineteenth century church ‘restorations.’ The replacement stone came mostly from the Jurassic Lincolnshire Limestone belt, not from Barnack but from other quarries along its outcrop from Weldon to Ancaster. The methodology of data collection, analysis and presentation in the Cambridgeshire study should prove useful for other heritage buildings nationally and internationally.