Scientific value and utility of geo(morpho)sites, with a case of the El-Medallat hills in Egypt

Abstract

Geological and geomorphological heritage (geoheritage) has many aspects, some of which are yet to be fully understood. Particularly, a scientific value of geo(morpho)sites is defined differently and established with not fully satisfying approaches. The attention to the El-Medallat hills, which are a group of small inselbergs in the southern Western Desert of Egypt, required the development of a new approach to focus on a scientific utility. The latter is not equated to the total value of geo(morpho)sites and their scientific value. The El-Medallat hills are put into the context of the international research in inselbergs. The relevant journal articles were collected, and the information from them was extracted to understand the relation of the El-Medallat hills to geographical and lithological foci of the international research in inselbergs. It is established that inselbergs were rarely reported from the Saharan domain of Africa, and sandstone inselbergs were studied much less intensively than granite ones. These lines of evidence imply the relatively high scientific utility of the El-Medallat geomorphosite due to its location in the Saharan domain of Africa and sandstone composition. The proposed approach is distinguished by an emphasis on research potential of geo(morpho)sites in the light of the international research experience.