These inscriptions bring the total number of sites on the World Heritage List to 1007.
The geological site Stevns Klint in Denmark comprises a 15 km-long fossil-rich coastal cliff, offering exceptional evidence of the impact of the Chicxulub meteorite that crashed into the planet at the end of the Cretaceous, about 65 millions years ago.
Researchers think that this caused the most remarkable mass extinction ever, responsible for the disappearance of over 50% of all life on Earth. The site harbours a record of the cloud of ash formed by the impact of the meteorite – the exact site of the impact being at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula.
The asteroid impact that many researchers claim was the cause of the dinosaur die-off was bad news for marine life at the time as well. But new research shows that microalgae – one of the primary producers in the ocean – bounced back from the global extinction in about 100 years or less
An exceptional fossil record is visible at the site, showing the complete succession of fauna and micro-fauna charting the recovery after the mass extinction.
The Wadden Sea (Germany/Denmark). This is an extension of the Dutch and German Wadden Sea site, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2009.
The Wadden Sea is the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world. The complete extension now covers most of the Danish Wadden Sea maritime conservation area, as well as a maritime extension of the Dutch Wadden Sea Conservation Area and the German Wadden Sea National Parks of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein.
Wadden Sea National Park (Nationalpark Vadehavet) was named a Danish national park on 17 January 2008. Since June 2014 it contributes the Danish part of the UNESCO‘s World Heritage of the Wadden Sea. Prince Joachim of Denmark is Patron of the Wadden Sea Centre.
The Wadden Sea National Park is by far the largest of Denmarks national parks and covers the Danish part of the Wadden Sea from Ho Bugt to the German border, and includes the islands of Fanø, Mandø and Rømø, as well as Skallingen, Varde Å valley and many of the marshlands of Tjæreborgmarsken, Ribemarsken, Margrethekogenand De ydre diger i Tøndermarsken.
The Wadden Sea is known for its large number of migratory birds and for the large flocks of European Starlings which fly in formations known as the Sort sol. (Wikipedia)