Dispersed Geoheritage Points of the Lagonaki Highland, SW Russia: Contribution to Local Geoheritage Resource

Abstract

Dispersed geoheritage points, which are small-sized and low-unique localities, manifest local geoheritage and, thus, may be useful for its comprehensive understanding. Field studies in the Lagonaki Highland (Western Caucasus, southwestern Russia) have permitted to find four geoheritage points that are described with argumentation of their importance to scientists, educators, and/or tourists. These points, none of which can be defined as a ‘traditional’ geosite, provide some precious sedimentary, palaeontological, and mineralogical information that improves perception of the local geoheritage landscape dominated by the Late Jurassic carbonate platform deposits. The studied localities are constituents of the local geoheritage resource because of their utility to three main categories of potential users. Scientists may be interested in these dispersed geoheritage points because of the need to collect massive geological data from big areas. Educators and tourists may appreciate these points because of their location along principal roads, i.e., their good accessibility.

Islands in the Caucasian Sea in Three Mesozoic Time Slices: Novel Dimension of Geoheritage and Geotourism

“…First, direct evidence of palaeoislands seems to be rare and thus unique; the related objects can always be attributed to the palaeogeographical type of geoheritage [6,7]. Second, although the basic elements of geoheritage are geosites, the latter are often large (up to several square kilometers in size) and complex (due to the coexistence of several geoheritage types), and, thus, particular unique features can be represented in their fragments, which are known as geoheritage points [30] that have something in common with geotopes [31]. Dealing with such fragments seems to be very suitable when single-theme geoheritage is considered and geosites/geoparks are "diffused" [30,32].…”

“…Second, although the basic elements of geoheritage are geosites, the latter are often large (up to several square kilometers in size) and complex (due to the coexistence of several geoheritage types), and, thus, particular unique features can be represented in their fragments, which are known as geoheritage points [30] that have something in common with geotopes [31]. Dealing with such fragments seems to be very suitable when single-theme geoheritage is considered and geosites/geoparks are "diffused" [30,32]. Of course, the correspondence of geoheritage points to geosites should be traced.…”

On the Duality of Marine Geoheritage: Evidence from the Abrau Area of the Russian Black Sea Coast

“…As these geosites are rather large, their key points, which are ideal for visiting, observing, and understanding their heritage, are specified on the basis of the observations in the course of field investigations. The idea of such points has been introduced, particularly, by Ruban et al [48]. Landscape panoramas are essential for the comprehension of geoheritage, and thus, viewpoints (sensu [49][50][51][52][53]) are distinguished within the above-mentioned key points.…”