The Regional Secretary for Education and Culture expressed the Regional Government's "satisfaction" for the inclusion of the Mid Atlantic Ridge (MAR) application in Portugal's indicative list of World Heritage by UNESCO National Commission.
 
Avelino Meneses said he believes that the document submitted by the Region in a joint action of the Regional Secretariats for the Sea, Science and Technology and Education and Culture,   with the assistance of the University of the Azores, "will fulfil the goal we want to achieve, that is, the Unesco classification."
 
The application, under consideration at UNESCO National Commission since March, includes part of the nine islands of the archipelago and its 596 islets, the territorial sea, the subarea of the Azores belonging to the Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone and the contiguous extended platform.
 
This geographical area comprises relevant areas, such as D. João de Castro, Condor, Princess Alice, Sedlo, Altair, Antialtair seamounts, the complex of MARNA (Mid Atlantic Ridge North of the Azores) and Meteor seamounts as well as the deep-sea hydrothermal fields located southwest of the archipelago; all of them are included in the Azores Marine Park, which has recently been expanded and revised.
 
The application also includes visible, unique, singular and spectacular manifestations of MAR as the Volcano of Pico Mountain, "Gruta do Carvão" (Coal Cave) on Terceira, "Furna do Enxofre" (Sulphur Cave) on Graciosa, Capelinhos Volcano on Faial and all nature reserves already classified by regional legislation.
 
 "Algar do Carvão" and "Furna do Enxofre" were already part of the indicative list, but the Government considered that the inclusion of these structures in the proposal now presented would give more consistency to its geological value as a natural asset of humanity.
 
Besides cultural and sociological value of MAR, the application of the Azores was selected since it meets the criteria stipulated by UNESCO for natural heritage criteria: it represents a remarkable natural phenomena or areas of natural beauty and important exceptional aesthetics; it is an exceptionally representative example of the great stages of Earth's history, including testimonies of life, ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms or geomorphic or physiographic elements of great significance.
 
The selection also considered the following criteria: it is the representative of an exceptionally ecological example and ongoing biological processes in the evolution and development of ecosystems and communities of plants and terrestrial, aquatic, coastal and marine animals; it contains the most representative natural habitats and more important for "in situ" conservation of biological diversity, particularly those where endangered species with Universal Outstanding Value in terms of science or conservation survive.
 
The asset in question will also be complementary to the Azores Geopark, which is part of UNESCO Programme for International Geoscience and Geoparks. This status contributes to the promotion, enhancement and visibility of the Region.
 
The inclusion of MAR in the Indicative List envisages a future application for UNESCO World Heritage Site. It benefits from a favourable context with other international assets already classified or about to be classified that are also related to the Atlantic Ridge. This is part of a transnational process involving other countries, such as Iceland, Norway, United Kingdom, Ireland or even Brazil, if we take into consideration the southern extent of this geological formation.
 
The Azores, Jan Mayen island, Iceland, St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks, Ascension Island, St. Helena Island Tristan da Cunha Island, and the islands of Gough and Bouvet are all direct and visible evidence of MAR.
 
The emerged and submerged area of MAR in the Azores belongs to the biogeographic region of Macaronesia and, in the European context, this area has a rich biodiversity.
 
The exceptional universal value of MAR and the region of the Azores, visible in its emerged and submerged heritage, comes from the unique geological features that are the ever present testimony of Earth's history, namely of the formation of the archipelago.
 
The MAR was originally detected in 1850 by Matthew Maury. In 1870, the expedition of the HMS Challenger confirmed a sharp reduction in depth in the middle zone of the Atlantic.
 
The existence of the range was then detected by sonar in 1925 and, later, in the 1950s, scientists conducted the first mapping of this huge geological structure.
 
Then, MAR became accepted as evidence for the plausibility of Wegener's theory of continental drift and, later, of the plate tectonics theory.
 
The application of the Mid Atlantic Ridge in the indicative list of Portugal's World Heritage was drawn up by the Regional Directorate for Sea Affairs in partnership with the Regional Directorate for Culture.