Jurassic Global Stratotype Section and Points (GSSPs) – a potential serial World Heritage Site?

Abstract

The Operation Guidelines for the UNESCO World Heritage Convention state that proposed areas should: “...be outstanding examples representing major stages of Earth’s history, including the record of life”, “...contain all or most of the key interrelated and interdependent elements in their natural relationships”, “...have a management plan…” and “...have adequate long-term legislative, regulatory, institutional or traditional protection...”. By definition, Global Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSPs) should satisfy all these criteria, although in isolation, the proposal of any single GSSP is unlikely to succeed, however, as an individual site may lack a broader context. Nevertheless, combining a suite of GSSPs sites for a System within a ‘serial’ World Heritage site proposal would satisfy such a concern and could be an ultimate goal for the International Subcommission on Jurassic Stratigraphy.