The Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute has published the 31st volume in the Special Papers series - a prestigious publication that has been presenting original and synthetic papers in English in various fields of geology since 1999.

The series aims to disseminate the results of geologists' research to the international scientific community, as well as to publish the proceedings of conferences organised by the Institute.

Volume 31 collects articles on historical aspects of geology and mining around the world, including:

• the creation and early development of the Mississippi State Geological Survey (USA) (link >>),
• the history of salt production in Italy, from ancient brine springs to modern mining (link >>),
• the history of the first documented lead deposit in South Africa (Maitland, 1792) (link >>),
• prehistoric and protohistoric resource extraction sites in the Czech Republic (link >>),
• the origins of the geopark movement in Japan (link >>).

The publication shows the diversity of the geological heritage, the importance of raw material exploration in the development of civilisation and inspiring examples of the preservation and popularisation of geology.

Special Papers is a series published by PIG-PIB since 1999. The chairman of the Editorial Committee is Grzegorz Czapowski, PhD DSc. The series is available in printed (initial and original version) and electronic (PDF online).

Special Papers, vol. 31