The Courel Mountains UNESCO Global Geopark: An Amazing Geological History Extended Along 600 Million Years

[EN] The Courel Mountains UNESCO Global Geopark (2019) stands out in SW of Europe because of its geoheritage, its biodiversity and its cultural heritage, all of it considered of international interest. These aspects shape the local development economic and cultural improvement and development. The geoheritage is the result of three geological cycles since the Proterozoic, involving the Cadomian-Avalonian-Pan-African orogeny, the opening of the Rheic Ocean and the Variscan orogeny, and finally the Permian-Mesozoic continental expansion and the Alpine orogeny. The geological history of Courel Mountains is one of singular rocks, huge recumbent folds, valuable metallic mineralization, and invertebrate fossils preserved within metamorphic rocks. This long history is recorded in an exceptional Variscan basement that we can ravel thanks to the exhumation during the Alpine uplifting, when the present-day Courel Mountains were built. ; Peer reviewed