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Bakony-Balaton Global Geopark

The Bakony-Balaton Global Geopark is situated in western Hungary in the north-western part of the Carpathian Basin of central Europe, surrounded by young fold mountain ranges. Lake Balaton, the largest lake in central Europe, is also known as the "Hungarian Sea".The Geopark highlights the geological values of the region which testify to a rich geodiversity of sharp cliffs and hot springs, volcanoes and basalt columns set against a diverse geological and morphological mosaic of different formations. It has old crystalline rocks from several hundreds of millions of years ago up to more recent formations of rocks including one of the largest Alpine Triassic carbonate successions, which has rich fossil remains. Dinosaur-bearing Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks as well as tropical tower karst can be found here. The former lake sediments include diverse endemic species of molluscan fauna which is unique among ancient lake sediments in the Earth’s history. Gorges and karst plateaux feature 700 caves, hundreds of sinkholes, a 9-km-long thermal-water maze under a town and more than 1,600 clear-water springs. Added to this geological wonderland is the legacy of five thousand years of human occupation.