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TERRA.vita UNESCO Global Geopark is located in northwestern Germany in the transitional zone between the northern lowlands and the northwestern hill country, approximately 100 kilometers from the North Sea coast and some 35 kilometers east of the Dutch border. The Geology of TERRA.vita is characterized by an exceptionally complete record of the past 300 Million years of earth history. Rocks of all geological periods ranging from the Upper Carboniferous age (ca. 300 million years old) up to Holocene (10,000 years old) are accessible in many places. Various types of sedimentary rocks represent the changes of environment that the area experienced during that span of time. In the village Bad Essen-Barkhausen in the eastern part of the Geopark, dinosaur footprints can be found. By the end of the Cretaceous period, an anticline formed in the southern part of the UNESCO Global Geopark and the old layers were lifted up. Now exposed to weathering, the material was revealed and the relief formed following the resistance of the rock. Finally ice age glaciers gave the territory the shape that we see today, including a huge end-moraine structure in the northern part. During several ice extensions, older subsoil material, mainly clay sediments of Tertiary age, was dragged to hills while sand and gravel also accumulated. Beside this unusual record of events, some extraordinary sites are of international significance. For example, the Piesberg Mountain is well known as a source for carboniferous fossils of outstanding scientific value.