Natural Wonders

© UNESCO/Sigurdur Á. Thráinsson

From BoingBoing:

The World Heritage Committee added eight natural sites and 19 cultural sites to UNESCO's World Heritage List of cultural, natural, and mixed properties that have "outstanding universal value."

The new natural sites include:

Surtsey, a volcanic island in the North Atlantic, approximately 32 km off Iceland’s south coast, has scientific importance because of the detailed records kept of the eruption that formed it, its modifications by later geological and geomorphic processes, and its ongoing colonisation by plants and animals.