Geoheritage and Geoconservation: Some Remarks and Considerations

Abstract

Topics related to geoheritage research, protection, and conservation, as well as the enhancement and dissemination of geoheritage knowledge, have experienced an important increase in interest regarding the perspectives of both research and management policies. In geoheritage and geodiversity management, geoconservation is a term that encompasses a series of actions dedicated to conservation, research on and the protection of geoheritage, and the enhancement as well as dissemination of knowledge in this area. Geoconservation is a kind of container, with several compartments dedicated to different aspects that identify geoheritage and geodiversity, including scientific, technical, administrative, didactical, and political aspects. These aspects are necessarily different according to (i) objects directly or indirectly involved in geoconservation actions; (ii) the area of application (protected and unprotected natural areas; emerged, submerged, or mixed areas; and urban, urbanized, and/or anthropized areas); (iii) final goals; and (iv) the final end users. This paper presents a schematization of geoconservation concepts and applications as expressed in the literature and as a result of personal experience in addressing issues related to geoheritage management.

Nature-Based Solution Integration to Enhance Urban Geomorphological Mapping: A Methodological Approach

“…The growing interest in urban geomorphology has become a pivotal aspect for various reasons. It plays an important role in preserving geoheritage [6,8,[120][121][122][123][124] and identifying natural landforms within cities [6,125,126], ultimately enhancing the potential for geotourism experiences in urban environments [11,21,[127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134]. Urban geoheritage, encompassing historical significance, unique geological features, cultural value, and human interactions, constitutes a significant aspect of the urban environment [5,7,19].…”

“…Urban geoheritage sites can be integrated into cultural heritage preservation efforts, contributing to the overall cultural landscape of a city. Therefore, recognizing the cultural dimension of urban geoheritage is essential for understanding its full significance within urban environments [5,7,8]. The inclusion of urban geoheritage in some urban geomorphological studies [9] and the development of methodologies [10] for its Land 2024, 13, 467 2 of 26 study have not been performed in many cases.…”

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

“…Despite the numerous achievements in the international research of geoheritage, geoconservation, geodiversity, geoparks, and geotourism made during the three past decades [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], the inventory of geosites still remains on the agenda [9][10][11]. Finding new heritage objects of this kind is especially urgent for large and geologically rich territories, the geoheritage of which has not been explored extensively.…”

Geodiversity and Geoheritage to Promote Geotourism Using Augmented Reality and 3D Virtual Flights in the Arosa Estuary (NW Spain)

“…The objective of this work is to carry out an inventory of geosites of geological and geomorphological interest on the southern margin of the Arosa estuary (Figure 1): the Isla de Arosa-Villanueva-Cambados (zone 1) and the Sierra de Grove-Castrove-Sangenjo (zone 2). For this, the main geosites were identified, proceeding to their description and assessment [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Finally, a virtual 3D itinerary was carried out, implementing the data of each geosite on the free Google Earth platform, available on smartphones in order to publicize the geological interest of this tourist area.…”