COUNTRY FIELD GUIDE
Malta has a dense protected geological, palaeontological and cultural-heritage landscape. ERA can designate Special Areas of Geological Importance and issue Conservation Orders, while fossil and cultural-heritage chance finds can trigger reporting and conservation duties. Public access to cliffs, caves, museums or coastal geosites is therefore not treated as a right to remove limestone, fossils or other geological material.
Protected / viewing · viewing
Materials: Limestone, Fossils
Dwejra is one of Malta’s most important coastal geomorphology landscapes, including limestone cliffs, sea caves, stacks and the Inland Sea.
Next review: 2027-09-13
Protected / viewing · viewing
Materials: Limestone, Clay
Dingli Cliffs expose Malta’s characteristic limestone-and-clay stratigraphy and active cliff/scree geomorphology.
Next review: 2027-09-13
Protected / viewing · prohibited
Materials: Ice Age Mammal Fossils, Fossils, Limestone
Għar Dalam is Malta’s flagship Pleistocene fossil cave, with original extinct-animal remains preserved in the cave and museum. It is protected and not a collecting site.
Next review: 2027-09-13
Protected / viewing · viewing
Materials: Mixed Minerals, Fossils, Limestone
The National Museum of Natural History maintains Malta’s main public geological and palaeontological reference collections, including thousands of mineral/geological specimens and extensive fossils.
Next review: 2027-09-13
Protected / viewing · prohibited
Materials: Limestone
Tal-Mensija is Malta’s explicitly designated Special Area of Geological Importance for a solution-subsidence structure, protected by a formal Conservation Order and Protection Notice.
Next review: 2027-09-13