Diversity of Volcanic Geoheritage in the Canary Islands, Spain

Abstract

Volcanic areas create spectacular landscapes that contain a great diversity of geoheritage. The study of this geoheritage enables us to inventory, characterise, protect and manage its geodiversity. The Canary Islands are a group of subtropical active volcanic oceanic islands with a great variety of magma types and eruption dynamics that give rise to a wide diversity of volcanic features and processes. The aim of this paper is to identify, for the first time, the diversity of volcanic geoheritage of the Canary Islands and to appraise the protection thereof. To this end, a geomorphological classification is proposed, taking into account the features and processes directly related to volcanism, such as those resulting from erosion and sedimentary processes. The main findings demonstrate that the volcanic geoheritage of the Canary Islands is extremely varied and that this geodiversity is safeguarded by regional, national and, international protection and management frameworks. Even so, and given the enormous pressure of coastal tourism on the coastlines of the islands, we believe that continuing efforts should be made to conserve and manage their volcanic and non-volcanic geoheritage, so that these places can continue to be enjoyed in the form of geotourism.

Dilemma of Geoconservation of Monogenetic Volcanic Sites under Fast Urbanization and Infrastructure Developments with Special Relevance to the Auckland Volcanic Field, New Zealand

“…This is particularly the case in young volcanic fields. Many young volcanic fields across Europe utilize their abandoned quarries of monogenetic volcanoes as their key geoeducation spots [79][80][81][82][83]. By interlinking young and old monogenetic volcanic fields and cross-communicating the information made accessible, we can maximize education and community engagement opportunities at these sites.…”

Volcanoes: Identifying and Evaluating Their Significant Geoheritage Features from the Large to Small Scale

“…At smaller scales, volcanoes and their products, in interacting with rocks, water, and atmosphere, provide a wealth of geological features that are great stories of the Earth and hence of great heritage (geoheritage) significance. In this context, the geoheritage significance of volcano types, volcanic deposits, volcanic landscapes, and secondary volcanic landscapes (such as landslides and rockfalls) was recently addressed in the Journal Geoheritage [43][44][45][46][47] and in [48].…”

Introductory Chapter: Updates in Volcanology - Transdisciplinary Nature of Volcano Science

“…Moreover in the last decades a boom of research is visible where volcanic geoheritage used and utilized as a main opportunity to develop geoeducation programs accompanied with effective geoconservation programs (commonly formed as a result of citizen science, and co-design) to build a more resilience society against volcanic hazard [94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104]. Even new terms appeared such as social volcanology or paleo-social volcanology steamed from social geology to express the newly and rapidly evolving discipline formed recently [72,105].…”