The Marine Devonian of Great Britain

Abstract

This is the first volume of the Geological Conservation Review (GCR) of Great Britain to be published in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association (PGA), and it is a great pleasure to see this important Earth Science publication within the pages of this long established Geological journal (2011 is the 153rd year of publication of the PGA). In many ways the PGA is a natural home for the GCR publications as it is an international journal that covers the whole range of Earth Science, but has a tradition of outreach and interaction with society not typical of many other Earth Science journals. Indeed the Geologists’ Association has long been concerned with Geoscience discovery and the impact of Earth Science on society, and the GCR is the archive that provides the key information about the critical Earth Science sites in the British Isles. These sites cover all aspects of the subject, from topics like the Marine Devonian, which is the subject of this issue (Leveridge, 2011a), to sites of geomorphological significance which may provide critical evidence by which we can evaluate topics such as flood risk, or sites of palaeontological significance which may provide clues for our understanding of the development of life on this planet. In addition the GCR provides the critical information necessary for evaluating the legal status of sites designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in Great Britain and as such it has a status not usually found in Earth Science documents. The publication of the GCR in the PGA gives the journal a new role and means that the journal has practical impact which is in line with the impact requirements of our research councils and the objectives of the Research Excellence Framework (REF), used to evaluate UK higher education