At the 34th International Geological Congress in Brisbane, the “Heritage Stone Task Group” was created to facilitate formal designation to those natural stone types that have achieved important use and have been accorded significant recognition in human culture. Their recognition will promote public and policy-maker interest in stone built heritage, encourage the use of local natural stone and ensure the availability of the natural stone required for the maintenance of the built heritage and the quality of new buildings. The outcome will be the designation of a “Global Heritage Stone Resource”, meaning a natural stone of local, regional or/and other different geographical levels importance. This session encourages contributions for the proposed designation, its potential application and the submission of papers on possible stones from all over the world to be candidates as Global Heritage Stone Resource. We will as well accept contributions on issues related to the importance of using original natural stones in the restoration and conservation of historical buildings, and other issues associated to this subject.
Contributions from previous EGU editions are now published in Geological Society of London Special Publications (SP407: Global Heritage Stone: Towards International Recognition of Building and Ornamental Stones) and Episodes Special Issue on Heritage Stones (in press. Release date: June 2015). Contributions in EGU 2015 will be published in another Special Issue to be confirmed.