Is geoheritage a “cutting-edge” science? Promotion of an extension to the definition of geoheritage with emphasis as a significant discipline in geosciences with cultural and societal relevance

Abstract

Geoheritage documentation is critical for the academic community, and thus incurs an expense to the general public, who may or may not feel the need to fund such an “academic” database. Fortunately, this documentation helps foster appreciation of geosites within a geotouristic framework and can inspire a nationalistic sense of pride, thus bringing about an economic incentive to countries actively involved in geoheritage research and documentation. Yet there remains a prejudice within academia that geoheritage is a descriptive field, is arbitrarily qualitative, and lacks the capacity to create new and important scientific discoveries. We present herein a description and discussion of the results of applying “cutting-edge” science in a geoheritage framework with ample examples from Greece and two case studies of its application. The first of these is The Aliakmon Legacy Project of Northern Greece that necessitated modern documentation to preserve its heritage base when plate tectonic global geoheritage localities were flooded. The second summarizes the geologic history of the Meteora World Heritage Site with an emphasis on how its long complex geologic history ultimately resulted in the Byzantine Monastic community. We propose this paper as a discussion model for the integration of primary geologic research with cultural heritage localities and emphasize that these promise to elevate geoheritage studies to a scale critical for documentation of human civilization itself. It is our opinion that geoheritage is capable of becoming a dynamic field of study in which documentation and preservation expands to integrate renewed multidisciplinary research that in turn comprises the scientific foundation of a “new” cutting-edge geologic field of study.

Scientific Utility of Selected Latin American Global Geoparks: A Literature-Based Case Study

“…For instance, the collected evidence implies that the Latin American global geoparks were promoted actively and effectively in the international literature, but often attracted only marginal attention (Figure 2, Table 2). It is possible that many specialists in the world still misunderstand the scientific potential of geoparks (at least, those of Latin America), as well as ignore (or do not appreciate) the already visible power and maturity of geoheritage studies [16]. Additional studies are necessary to understand whether the above-mentioned or any other explanations matter, but it is evident that the established partial exploitation of the scientific potential of global geoparks could be caused by the processes (also, barriers and biased vision) of international science.…”

“…Geoheritage can be defined provisionally as the entity of unique geological (also geomorphological) features, manifestations of which are suitable for geoscience, geoeducation, and geotourism [6][7][8][9][10]. Research in geoheritage and its various applications is an important, mainstream direction in contemporary geological science [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. One major aspect of this direction is related to geopark studies [19][20][21][22].…”

Collecting Rocks on the Frontier: Investigating the Geodiversity Significance of Historical Building Stones and Rock Collecting at the Maxey Homestead, Northwest Texas, USA

“…Conducting inventories and instituting geoconservation measures to protect the geodiversity of the landscape is a vital part of the discipline. Geoheritage as research, however, is critically important to the discipline by bringing forth new insights into how society impacts and is impacted by geodiversity in both the past and present [48,49].…”

Disaster Management for Geopark-Based Tourism in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

“…Parangtritis Sand Dunes are in the area of Bantul Regency (Figure 1). Based on the geological conditions that can be determined throughout the geoheritages, it is known that the uniqueness is related to (1) the remnants of the disaster impacted by the eruptions of Merapi Volcano that have occurred before, (2) the remnants of the disasters caused by the 27 May 2006 earthquake in the Districts of Pleret and Imogiri (Bantul Regency) and zones prone to landslides and other mass movements in Kulonprogo Regency, and (3) the cultural heritage of the Dutch Mangaan mine in Kulonprogo. To optimize efforts to protect, conserve, and utilize all these geoheritages, a Geopark is developed, which is synergized with efforts to realize the preservation of Biodiversity and Culture-diversity.…”

“…Aspiring Jogja Geopark is also intended for educational efforts, early warning (disasters), and improving the economy of local communities. Some scientists determined geoheritage is a union of geological science with the recognition and importance of geology in human society [1]. Geoheritage is geological diversity that has more value, a legacy of records of high scientific value, rare, unique, and beautiful, it can be used for research and earth education purposes [2][3][4][5].…”