New Marine Geoheritage from the Russian Altai

Abstract

Marine geoheritage comprises unique geological features of modern and ancient seas and oceans. The Russian Altai (southern Siberia) is a vast and geologically rich area, which was covered by a marginal sea of the Panthalassa Ocean in the Devonian. New geosites representing shallow- and deep-marine depositional environments and palaeoecosystems of submarine volcano slopes are proposed, namely, Melnichnye Sopki and Zavodskie Sopki. They are located near the town of Zmeinogorsk (Altai Region of the Russian Federation). These pieces of marine geoheritage are valuable on an international scale. Special geoconservation procedures are recommended to manage the proposed geosites efficiently. They can be included in a geopark, which is reasonable to create due to the concentration of geological and mining heritage in the study area.

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

“…On the other hand, some features represent the modern coastal environment (although this environment is transitional, its direct connection to the marine basin is evident). This duality can be documented not only in general (as earlier noted by Gutak et al [11]), but also within the same area and even within the same geosite.…”

“…Eng. 2021, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW 11 of 14 general (as earlier noted by Gutak et al [11]), but also within the same area and even within the same geosite.…”

“…Li et al [10] demonstrated the relevance of geoheritage to marine parks. According to Gutak et al [11], marine geoheritage comprises unique features linked to dynamics, and thus geological forces of ancient and modern oceans and seas. Additionally, Chiba et al [12], Peng et al [13], and Vescovo et al [14] paid attention to pollution, waste accumulation, and related conservation in the Mariana Trench, which seems to be a global geoheritage feature due to its outstanding depth.…”

Neverovsky Palaeoreef and Associated Deep-Marine Facies: High-Value Late Devonian Geoheritage from the Rudny Altai

“…Despite the geological richness and the long history of geological research in the region, the Altai does not boast extensive geoheritage studies. Previous research considered the geoheritage and geotourism resources of particular areas of Xinjiang in China [19], East Kazakhstan [20][21][22][23], northeast Gobi Altai in Mongolia [24], and Zmeinogorsk and a few other localities in Russia [25,26]. The number of the studied areas and the reported geosites are too small compared to the huge size of the Altai and the diversity of its geological wonders.…”

“…Among the many unique geological sites of the Altai, one should take note of the Devonian reefs [25,27,28]. They are covered only marginally in the famous PARED database [29], although their consideration can be important to better understand the shift from reef abundance in the Early-Middle Devonian to their decline at the Devonian-Carboniferous transition [30].…”