Glacial Geomorphosites and Related Landforms: A Proposal for a Dendrogeomorphological Approach and Educational Trails

Abstract

The educational value is an attribute characterising glacial geomorphosites and it can be classified as additional value or part of the scientific one. In recent years, Alpine geomorphosites -including glaciers, whose role as palaeogeomorphic landforms, models of evolution and climatic indicators is evident-are becoming increasingly common locations for excursions, hiking trails and educational trips. Two educational trails are presented here in order to (a) enhance the role of glacial and Alpine geomorphosites in education; (b) underline the importance of dating methods such as dendrochronology for assessing the ecological value of geomorphosites and for educational purposes; (c) outline the importance of fieldwork activities in improving knowledge of landscape evolution. The first trail itinerary leads to a debris-covered glacier used for winter skiing, explaining in 'stops' the geomorphological processes observable on the slope and in the surrounding landscape. It also introduces dendrochronology as a tool for dating past events and climatic variations. This includes providing examples of dendrochronological exercises related to the reconstruction of a mixed fan (debris-flow and avalanche fan) located near the trail, with the aim of reinforcing the theoretical method previously learned. The second trail itinerary leads to a glacial geomorphosite where dendrogeomorphological investigations were carried out in dating an ancient moraine system colonised by trees, with the aim of showing students the importance of tree rings as a natural archive of environmental and climatic data. Testing part of the first trail on 14-year-old students confirmed the usefulness of the associated fieldwork and provided evidence of the educational potential of glacial geomorphosites and dendrochronology.

The enhancement of cultural landscapes in mountain environments: An artificial channel history (Torrent-Neuf, Canton Valais, Switzerland) and the role of trees as natural archives of water flow changes

“…Even if the water diversion along the TN did not heavily affected trees growth neither when the TN was closed nor when water started to flow again, the TN chronologies show: 1) how depletion in water availability may influence and slow down the recovery of a »normal growth« after drought years; 2) drought years less affect tree growth when the TN is active. Hence, trees growing on the TN banks recording the drainage changes and climate events, represent new opportunities to disseminate knowledge deciphered from natural archives (Garavaglia and Pelfini 2011;Bollati et al 2011).…”

“…In recent times cultural and thematic paths have been proposed to promote natural and cultural landscapes accompanied by guides and/or panels, helpful for acquiring knowledge about the changing landscapes under changing climate conditions (Garavaglia and Pelfini 2011) or human activities. Changes in landscape features, such as the aesthetic attributes (Smrekar, Polajnar Horvat and Erhartič 2016), influence the landscape perception by local populations, visitors and tourists (Garavaglia et al 2012;Schirpke et al 2013) as well as socio-economic changes can impact on the immaterial cultural heritage (Hidalgo, Borsdorf and San Martín 2014).…”

The importance of mountain geomorphosites for environmental education: examples from the Italian Dolomites and the Swiss Alps

“…Educational programs in these kinds of sites (e.g. torrential systems) should be developed for specific publics such as tourists or scholars, as it was proposed by Garavaglia and Pelfini (2011).…”

“…Several case studies focused on the importance of active geosites for explaining the dynamics of geomorphological processes in mountain environments (e.g. Pelfini et al 2009;Garavaglia and Pelfini 2011;Pelfini and Bollati 2014). Research on passive geomorphosites and past catastrophes are less developed.…”

The Potential of Permanent Gullies in Europe as Geomorphosites

“…These papers deal with (i) terminology and methodology problems (Panizza 2001;Reynard and Coratza 2007;Reynard 2008;Erhartic 2010;Kubaliková 2013), (ii) synthetic reviews of geomorphosites at national scale (Giusti and Calvet 2010;Warowna et al 2013;Kale 2014) and (iii) specific types of geomorphosites such as glacial (Garavaglia and Pelfini 2011), fluvial (Wiederkehr et al 2010), anthropogenic ) and granitic (Ginesu and Secchi 2009). In addition, several special journal issues related to geomorphosites have been published as well, i.e.…”