GeoMôn UNESCO Global Geopark is a
Geopark
A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which Sustainability, sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant s ...
covering the entire island of
Anglesey
Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...
in north
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. It was admitted to the
European Geoparks Network
The European Geoparks Network (EGN) functions as the regional organization of the Global Geoparks Network (GGN) and the UNESCO International Geosciences and Geoparks Programme (UNESCO-IGGP). Its main objective is to ensure cooperation between geop ...
and to the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
-assisted
Global Network of National Geoparks in May 2009. It was the second Geopark to be designated in Wales, the seventh within the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and the thirty-third in Europe. The UNESCO Geopark designation reflects the
diversity of the island's geology, which encompasses solid rocks from the
Precambrian
The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...
to the
Neogene
The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...
with some
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
sediments and extensive
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
glaciation features from the
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...
period. GeoMôn covers 720 square kilometres and has 125 miles of coastal walks.
The Isle of Anglesey lies off the north coast of Wales, UK. It is known as Ynys Môn in Welsh. Around 67,000 people live on the island. The local culture is very distinctive, with around 60% of the population using Welsh as their first language.
The island is known for its diverse tectonic geology.
South Stack exhibits particular
folding and
faulting
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
that have made it a site of interest for many years, having been first identified as the oldest
Precambrian
The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...
rock then the youngest and now said to be from the
Cambrian
The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...
period. It is a common location for students and schools who come here to study folding and faulting as well as examining the evidence for the birth of the Atlantic.
Llanddwyn Island on the west Anglesey coast is a small, but complete
oceanic plate
Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramafic ...
, with the
pillow lava
Pillow lavas are lavas that contain characteristic pillow-shaped structures that are attributed to the extrusion of the lava underwater, or ''subaqueous extrusion''. Pillow lavas in volcanic rock are characterized by thick sequences of discontinu ...
s at its eastern end created at a Precambrian
constructive plate margin. The plate interior on the northern coast is composed of
mudstone
Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...
s and
sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
s, some containing ‘
dropstone
Dropstones are isolated fragments of rock found within finer-grained water-deposited sedimentary rocks or pyroclasts, pyroclastic beds. They range in size from small pebbles to boulders. The critical distinguishing feature is that there is eviden ...
s, the remnants of the
Gaskier's Ice Age that occurred at the end of Precambrian times. Anglesey is the type locality for a rock type named "mélange" by
Edward Greenly when he first mapped the geology of Anglesey in the early years of the twentieth century.
GeoMôn publishes a series of local trails to guide the visitor around the coastal areas of the island served by the 125 mile long
coastal path. The trail at
Beaumaris
Beaumaris (; ) is a town and community (Wales), community on the Anglesey, Isle of Anglesey in Wales, of which it is the former county town. It is located at the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey fro ...
illustrates the use of rocks in the building of the 13th century castle, roofs and roads as well as more ornate carvings on high-status buildings. The castle built by
King Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...
was intended to ‘tame’ the local Welsh people and keep them in order. It is part of the
Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd
The Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site located in Gwynedd, Wales. It includes the castles of Beaumaris and Harlech and the castles and town walls of Caernarfon and Conwy. UNESCO considers ...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
.
Oriel Ynys Môn is the municipal art gallery and museum dedicated to local artists and crafts. Anglesey’s two most important artists have exhibitions there. Firstly, there is an exhibition of the work of
Charles Tunicliffe RA, the wildlife artist, and then Sir
Kyffin Williams
Sir John Kyffin Williams, (9 May 1918 – 1 September 2006) was a Welsh landscape painter who lived at Pwllfanogl, Llanfairpwll, on the Island of Anglesey. Williams is widely regarded as the defining artist of Wales during the 20th century.
Pe ...
RA, whose work is shown in a new gallery dedicated to him. He was a founder member of the Geopark and its first patron. His great uncle,
Sir Andrew Ramsay, was the second Director General of the
British Geological Survey
The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance Earth science, geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. ...
and a ‘Father’ of Welsh Geology; he died in Beaumaris and is buried in the churchyard at
Llanddwyn, under a glacial erratic, a boulder of
Shap
Shap is a village and civil parish located among fells and isolated dales in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. The village is in the historic county of Westmorland. The parish had a population of 1,221 in 2001, increasing slightly to ...
Granite.
Originally
geoconservation
Geoconservation is the practice of recognising, protecting and managing sites and landscapes which have value for their geology or geomorphology. The conservation of these geological sites is through government agencies and local geological societi ...
on Anglesey was administered by the
Gwynedd
Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...
and Môn
RIGS group, but a decision was taken to apply for Geopark membership. GeoMôn is administered by GeoMôn-Anglesey Geopark Limited, a company registered at
Companies House
Companies House is the executive agency of the British Government that maintains the Company register, register of companies, employs the company registrars and is responsible for Incorporation (business), incorporating all forms of Company, co ...
, and a registered charity.
GeoMôn produces books on the geology of the island as well as leaflets detailing a number of self-guided trails. There is a Geopark visitor centre open from 10am to 4pm every day except Monday, at the Watch House in
Porth Amlwch.
Porth Amlwch was created mainly to facilitate the export of
copper ore
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
from the mines on
Parys Mountain. The Watch House was originally the waiting place for the pilots guiding sailing ships in and out of the tiny harbour.
IUGS geological heritage site
Because of the site's 'spectacular, accessible and well-preserved exposures of late Neoproterozoic-Cambrian mélange with more than 200 years of study', the
International Union of Geological Sciences
The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to global cooperation in the field of geology. As of 2023, it represents more than 1 million geoscientists around the world.
About
Fo ...
(IUGS) included the 'Ynys Llanddwyn late Neoproterozoic-Cambrian Mélange' in the tectonics chapter of ''The First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites'' published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'
References
External links
GeoMôn- official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geomon
Geoparks in Wales
Global Geoparks Network members
Parks in Anglesey
Geology of Anglesey
First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites