Dr Jack J Matthews

🚶‍♂️ Stage one of the Via Algarviana begins!

📅 5 years ago we had an online conference about geoheritage, and a few of us thought "wouldn't it be good if there was a special day for geodiversity".

🇺🇳 So we worked together to create it.

🏞 And now the world talks about geodiversity on Oct 6th.

😊 Happy #GeodiversityDay

It's nearly #GeodiversityDay 2025, so we thought it was time to expand our social media presence!

Visualising the Benefits of Geodiversity International Geodiversity Day 2025 is approaching, and many people worldwide have organised events based on their professional or personal connections with geodiversity; whether these be around under...

🎨 To help promote the benefits of geodiversity, a team from the Open University have worked with artscientist Dr Vicky Bowskill to produce this amazing new image!

🌍 Read more, and download the image on our website: www.geodiversityday.org/post/visuali...

An excellent ProGEO Symposium in Tulcea🇷🇴 - excellent presentations and so many wonderful people attending.

Honoured to have been re-elected onto the Executive as we continue to grow our International Association for the Conservation of Geological Heritage.

🌍 This week, our Geoheritage Officer has been presenting our work on geoconservation at ProGEO - the International Association for the Conservation of Geological Heritage.

💸 Our Geopark hosted the ProGEO conference in 2023, bringing a boost of c.£100,000 to the local economy.

Baby Ammonite, do doo do do do doo

🇷🇴 Agighiol

🌍 The International Union for Conservation of Nature has approved a new initiative creating the Key Geoheritage Area designation.

🌐 Read more on the #GeodiversityDay website: www.geodiversityday.org/post/key-geo...

Many thanks to the organisers at #ProGEO2025🇷🇴 for the opportunity to share our work on the geoconservation of Ediacaran fossils in Charnwood Forest.

Me: *Ferments pressed grapes*

Every fruit fly in Oxfordshire:

⭐ We recently announced our official 100 Treasures of Charnwood Forest featuring famous sites and forgotten artefacts from across the Geopark.

🏺 What's included from your community? Take a look and explore 600 million years of history!

🌐 Explore the Treasures: www.charnwoodforest.org/100treasures/

Student Two students from De Montfort University (DMU) Leicester have travelled to Japan as part of a fact-finding mission to bolster Charnwood Forest

🇯🇵 As part of our collaboration with De Montfort University, we'll be receiving a report from two students who recently visited the Itoigawa UNESCO Global Geopark in Japan - this will help to shape our own upcoming UNESCO application.

🌐 Read more here: www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/ne...

🍇 A very productive Sunday. I'm estimating I'll make about 50 bottles of wine this year... all off one vine!

⭐ Today we are pleased to announce the official 100 Treasures of Charnwood Forest!

🏺 Featuring famous sites and forgotten artefacts nominated by the public, the 100 Treasures guides you through the Geopark's 600 million years of heritage.

🌐 Read more here: www.charnwoodforest.org/forgotten-ar...

IGU Seminar on Geodiversity from Geographical Perspectives 2025

Frank was a lovely man who freely gave his time and knowledge to support the Geopark. He will be greatly missed.

A woman in a red jacket and a child in a green coat with a pink pom-pom hat are kneeling on the ground in a Tiny Forest, engaging in planting tree saplings. Bare trees and a wire fence are visible in the background under a cloudy sky.

🌳 Our latest #ResearchPaper, ‘Saplings of Significance’, has been published by the @britishecologicalsociety.org.

The paper explores how centring cultural value and community voice can lead to the long-term success of tree-planting initiatives.

Read the full paper 🔗 https://pulse.ly/8nluc2se60

large obovate fossils from Discovery geopark covered in mesh like textures or pimples (previously called Blackbrookia and informally “pimply melons”) surrounded by many rounded fractal like Fractofusus andersoni

detail of a “blackbrookia” showing the mesh like texture interpreted as the cross section through the base of spike like papillae

Happy #FossilFriday from Johnson Discovery Surface in @discoverygeoparknl.bsky.social, famous for its #Fractofusus andersoni, but which also has large enigmatic forms dubbed #Blackbrookia (now considered a pseudofossil). The JDS material is however covered in pimples or meshes not seen in the type.

#FossilFriday Ammonite fossil illustrations drawn by Robert Hooke wp.me/p3ihHu-RQ 🧪⚒️

🌳 Help us care for Charnwood Forest by donating today 🌳

👉 Your support will help us restore habitats, look after our geology, and share our story.

🌐 Its quick and easy to donate on our website: www.charnwoodforest.org/donate/

Very much looking forward to presenting on UNESCO International #GeodiversityDay at this year's #GSAConnects conference during the Geoheritage without Borders Keynote Pardee session.

Unexpected item in the Geopark area...

Went geologising in the Quaternary of Charnwood Forest and found a section overflowing with ice-transported Jurassic beasties:

Also have a talk the day before on making sure we make geoconservation interventions fit the landscape. If you're going to be at #GSAConnects in San Antonio, come and say hi!

Very much looking forward to presenting on UNESCO International #GeodiversityDay at this year's #GSAConnects conference during the Geoheritage without Borders Keynote Pardee session.

🌄 Do you want to learn more about Charnwood Forest's amazing geological history? We've got you covered.

🌐 Watch our 'Beginner's Guide to the Geology of Charnwood Forest' for an easy and accessible introduction to our 600 million year old story: www.charnwoodforest.org/watch-again-...

I tried to find out if the fossil I bought online was real. Then I realized I was asking the wrong question | CNN It’s obvious a 95 million-year-old fossil would have a rich past — but what a CNN writer discovered about a dinosaur tooth he bought for about $100 was more than he anticipated.

I was interviewed for this article. It's pleasing that a Moroccan fossil dealer confirms what I said the law was and clarifies that it isn't 'a grey area'. It's got nothing to do with UNESCO, btw John. www.cnn.com/2025/08/15/s...

🔎 In 2017 a research team led by Charlotte Kenchington published several new fossils discovered in the rocks of Charnwood Forest.

📄 The study included three new species of the 560 million year old fossil Primocandelabrum, which lived at the bottom of a deep ocean.

sediment surface covered in small circular impressions of possible Cnidarians some have concentric rings (ediacaria) others radial structure (Aspidella terranovica) and a weird triradial form a bit like aspidella (Triforillonia). Scale bar 1cm

Happy #fossilfriday from the #Ediacaran of Newfoundland. Slightly younger than our most impressive frondose fossils, but the discs of the upper Fermeuse Formation have their own charm. This block has #Aspidella terranovica, the triangular #Triforillonia costellae & Ediacaria flindersi.

"Alexa, what would Zazu look like if the Lion King was set in the Cretaceous?" 😀

Earthwatch Europe’s international work Our CEO, Harry Barton, explains the breadth of Earthwatch Europe’s international work beyond Europe and why it is needed.

🌍 Did you know that we don't just work in #Europe?

In our latest blog, CEO Harry Barton explains the breadth of Earthwatch Europe’s international work beyond Europe and why it is needed. 👇

https://earthwatch.org.uk/blog/earthwatch-europes-international-work/