Bringing geoheritage underwater: definitions, methods, and application in two Mediterranean marine areas

Abstract

Within the definition given by UNESCO of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, geoheritage finds its significance both as the geological or geomorphological elements of nature worthy of conservation and as habitat of threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation. Definitions, methods, and applications for the conservation and valorization of geoheritage have been proposed for various types of environments, but their application in underwater areas is seldom, if even, reported. In this study, we propose a set of definitions and methods for the evaluation of scientific and additional values in underwater environment, and we apply them in two Mediterranean areas: Sigri (Greece, Lesvos Island) and Bergeggi (Italy, Liguria region). Results show the applicability of the schemes proposed in different geological and geomorphological settings and provide tools for the evaluation of abiotic underwater heritage in the two areas.

Assessing enigmatic boulder deposits in NE Aegean Sea: importance of historical sources as tool to support hydrodynamic equations

“…Lesvos Island (NE Aegean Sea) is the third largest Greek island, covering an area of about 1630 km 2 and bordered by ∼350 km of coastlines (Rovere et al, 2011). The study area is located in the southeastern part of the island (Fig.…”

Bridging Terrestrial and Marine Geoheritage: Assessing Geosites in Portofino Natural Park (Italy)

“…Concerning underwater geoheritage and marine geosites [42], despite their importance, only few studies have been developed; this is particularly true when compared with studies on marine biotic heritage ( [43] and references therein). This is mainly due to the physical constraints of the marine environment that influence the high costs of underwater surveys and the difficulty of investigating near shore areas, where navigation is not possible.…”

Geoconservación en áreas protegidas

“…Además del valor científico, otros enfoques han reconocido los valores estéticos, culturales/históricos, económicos y ecológicos de las áreas protegidas para la geoconservación (Kiernan, 1996;Panizza, 2001;Coratza y Panizza, 2009;Reynard, 2009a valores tanto científicos como más amplios -por ejemplo, en Suiza (Reynard et al, 2007), España (Bruschi et al, 2011;Pellitero et al, 2011), Portugal (Pereira et al, 2007) y Grecia (Fassoulas et al, 2011)-. Rovere et al (2011 ampliaron este enfoque para evaluar el geopatrimonio en dos áreas submarinas frente a las costas de Grecia e Italia.…”