This book describes a dozen islands around the world where the ancient past has been frozen in time, preserving fossilized remains of plants and animals in the geologic context of the coastal environments they once inhabited.
“In seeking paleo islands across North America and elsewhere around the world, my aim has been to identify places worthy of induction as national monuments,” says author Markes Johnson, a professor emeritus of natural history at Williams College. “The goal of this book is to promote ways we may enjoy nature through geotourism in celebration of our geoheritage through the sustainable development of geoparks and paleoparks.”
Island geoparks sanctioned by the UNESCO Global Geoparks program include Santa Maria Island in the Azores, Vis Archipelago in Croatia, El Hierro Island in the Canary Islands, Jeju Island in South Korea, and the Oki Islands in Japan. Others described in this book that are proposed for geopark status include the Ordovician Jens Munk Archipelago in Churchill, Canada, the Devonian Mowanbini Archipelago in the Oscar Range of Western Australia, the Cretaceous Erendira Islands of Baja California in Mexico, and the Pleistocene shores of Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands.
“This book offers excursions to a dozen ancient islands caught in geologic time with relationships exceptionally preserved among fossil plants and animals in the context of the coastal settings they once inhabited,” Johnson explains.
Each of the twelve chapters includes a topographic map of the island's physical structure paired with a global map showing its location in the context of the geography unique to that time. The accompanying narrative offers a guided tour of each island, illustrated with images of fossil finds and geologic features.