Geoheritage in Deltaic Environments: Classification Notes, Case Example, and Geopark Implication

Abstract

River deltas boast ecosystem richness, but their efficient conservation and management require consideration of the full spectrum of natural phenomena, including those which are geological. Few specialists have explored the issue of deltaic geological heritage (geoheritage), and the relevant knowledge remains scarce and non-systematised. This paper proposes the first classification of this geoheritage. Five categories are distinguished: entire-delta geological phenomenon, delta-associated “purely” geological features, delta-associated features resulting from geology–ecosystem interactions, geological features occasional to deltas, and geoarchaeological localities in deltas. Chosen as a case example, the Don River delta in the southwestern part of Russia possesses geoheritage of these categories, except for the latter. The relevant unique geological features differ by their types and ranks. Of particular interest is the phenomenon of a self-cleaning environment which prevents mercury concentration in the soil despite pollution from natural and anthropogenic sources. The complexity of the deltaic geoheritage, its co-existence with the rich biodiversity, and the aesthetical issues make geopark creation in river deltas a sensible venture. Relevant proposals have been made for Malaysia and the Netherlands–Belgium border, and the Don River delta in Russia also presents an appropriate location for geopark creation.

Geo-Heritage Specific Visibility as an Important Parameter in Geo-Tourism Resource Evaluation

“…The idea of geo-heritage type results from conceptualization, and, thus, the notions of specific visibility of each type presented above have to be discussed with some examples. The authors' field investigations in southwest Russia permit several real or potential geo-tourist attractions to be considered, five of which are located in the Western Caucasus (the geodiversity hotspot of Mountainous Adygeya [38]), and two other are located near the Azov Sea in the Rostov Region [40] (Table 2). These localities provide examples of all four categories of specific visibility.…”

“…The Don River delta is a typical deltaic environment near the big city of Rostov-on-Don, representing interesting processes linked to mercury pollution, temporary storage, and removal by sea floods [40], as well as various processes linked to contamination by other heavy metals, organic compounds, and oil-related matter. This is a nationally-unique geochemical feature, which can be visited by nature-oriented tourists.…”

Water in Descriptions of Global Geoparks: Not Less Important than Geology?

“…Most probable, all these hypotheses are plausible in different cases. However, the strengthened emphasis on geodiversity and geological heritage landscape integrity [22][23][24] and, particularly, links between water and geology in landscape systems [25][26][27] stimulate geopark practitioners to focus on water bodies. If so, the third hypothesis may provide a kind of universal explanation.…”

Coastal Peloids as Geological Heritage: Evidence from the Taman Peninsula (Southwestern Russia)

“…Generally, geoheritage is the entity of unique geological phenomena occurring globally, nationally, regionally, or locally. The conceptual framework of the modern geoheritage studies and the principles/methods of its description are given in the works of Brilha [17], Brocx and Semeniuk [18], Coratza et al [19], Gordon [20], Gray [21], Habibi et al [22], Henriques and Brilha [23], Henriques et al [24], Ibáñez et al [25], Mikhailenko and Ruban [26,27], Prosser [28], Prosser et al [29], Reynard and Brilha [30], Reynard et al [31], Ruban [32], and Wimbledon [33]. The approaches employed earlier for the purposes of peloid-related geoheritage characteristics [12,34] have to be noted.…”