South Australian geology and the State Heritage Register: an example of geoconservation of the Naracoorte Caves complex and karst environment

South Australia’s State Heritage Register contains 2294 listed places, the majority of which are from the ‘Built’ environment, ranging from settlers’ huts, community buildings, historical industrial sites to magnificent stone mansions. Only 96 places are linked to the ‘Natural’ environment. The Register listings protect heritage places from alteration, damage or removal without formal prior consultation, compulsory under the South Australian Development Act. ‘Natural’ environments are landscape-based and oriented towards Geological, Archaeological, Palaeontological and Speleological heritage (‘GAPS heritage’). A process to provide a greater balance between ‘Natural’ and ‘Built’ listings has initiated a series of State Heritage ‘Natural’ environment assessments, mostly of single sites. Two individual caves in the Naracoorte Caves National Park are already entered in the State Heritage Register as single sites. However, an innovative broader multiple-site nomination has focused on the many different but significant GAPS features contained within the 25 caves of the Naracoorte Caves National Park, providing a further level of protection for the land and the caves’ exteriors and interiors. The example of the Naracoorte Caves draws attention to the number of important land and coastal karst (limestone) features across South Australia that were generated by steady geological uplift of three large sections of Oligocene–Miocene limestone—the Nullarbor Plain, the Murray Basin and the Gambier Karstfield (which includes Naracoorte and Mount Gambier), resulting in specific karst forms worthy of a broader coordinating management approach across South Australian karst parks.     

The Jurassic Coast Story Book: An approach to geoheritage interpretation from the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site

The World Heritage status of the Jurassic Coast has important implications for how the geoheritage of the site is communicated to audiences. UNESCO defines World Heritage Sites as places with Outstanding Universal Value to all people that must be preserved for future generations. Building relationships between people and place is key to conservation and on the Jurassic Coast that is delivered by providing audiences with physical, intellectual and emotional access to the Site. Heritage interpretation offers an effective way to develop these connections and create diverse ways for people to engage with the unique Earth Science stories that underpin the World Heritage Status of the Dorset and East Devon Coast. This paper reflects on the approach to interpretation taken by the Jurassic Coast Team and explores the ways in which geoheritage is a challenging subject to interpret. Practitioners on the Jurassic Coast have more recently developed an interpretive approach to help overcome these difficulties. Three categories of geoheritage stories were identified (Landscape, Cultural geology and Earth History) and three interpretive principles were devised (perspective, intimacy and imagination) as a way of scoping out a relevant emotional context for interpretive content. This approach laid the foundation for the development of a new interpretation framework for the Jurassic Coast – The Jurassic Coast Story Book, which will be subject to ongoing testing and evaluation by the new organisation leading on the protection and promotion of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site; Jurassic Coast Trust.     

UNESCO World Heritage sites in Italy affected by geological problems, specifically landslide and flood hazard

A National Research Council, Research Institute for Hydrogeological Protection (IRPI) study on Italian monuments included in the UNESCO World Heritage List has revealed that many are affected by geological, geomorphological, and engineering geological problems. These monuments are static entities set in an environment that often manifests highly dynamic processes. As part of the efforts to protect sites of cultural and natural heritage, this study has applied a preliminary and empirical Geographical Information System-based method developed to characterize the environmental hazards at the sites where the monuments are located. Because the study of hydrogeological degradation falls within the province of IRPI, this hazard zoning focuses on river and mountain slope dynamics specifically concerning landslides and floods.     

我国西部世界遗产地门票价格变动对客源市场的影响——以甘肃省和四川省世界遗产地为例

旅游需求的显著特点之一是随时间变化而变化,定量研究和预测旅游需求随时间的变化,对世界遗产地的科学开发规划和经营决策具有重要的指导意义.选取甘肃和四川两省世界遗产地景点的门票价格,统计分析了世界遗产地门票价格变动对客源市场的调节作用,用时间结构分析模型探讨门票价格变动引起的客源市场季节性结构特征和年际结构特征.结果表明:门票价格的上涨对世界遗产地的客源市场在短期内具有一定影响,但长期影响不显著.要解决目前世界遗产地人满为患的困境,尚需积极寻求其它有效措施.     

浅论栖霞市地质遗迹资源的保护和利用

栖霞市是烟台地区唯一的内陆县级市,独特的地理优势造就了丰富的地质遗迹资源,包括典型的花岗岩地貌、岱崮地貌、丰富的地热资源、更新世化石遗址、矿冶遗址、地质灾害遗迹、地质构造形迹等。通过对该地区地质遗迹资源保护工作中存在问题的分析,提出了正确处理地质遗迹资源区旅游与保护的关系。     

四川峨眉山地质遗迹及其地学意义

峨眉山在1996年与乐山大佛一同被列入世界自然与文化遗产名录,是自然和文化的双重遗产之地。其地质遗产以麦地坪震旦—寒武系国际层型参考剖面等典型地层剖面、新构造运动产生的峨眉山断块山等现代地貌以及独特的峨眉山玄武岩和峨眉山花岗岩为代表。以峨眉山风景区地质遗迹景观为基础,以上扬子地层分区的部分地层区域、四川盆地东缘断块山地貌单元为研究视角,构建峨眉山地质遗迹资源体系——包括5个大类、18个亚类共60余处地质遗迹景点;在峨眉山地质构造特征分析的基础上,对前人研究进行了总结,探讨了峨眉山风景区地质构造特征、地质遗迹资源体系类型与分布,以及地质遗迹的地学意义。研究表明,峨眉山风景区完整地层序列的出露是地质剖面类地质遗迹景观、古生物活动遗迹景观以及岩溶地貌景观的物质条件,新生代以来的强烈构造运动为构造地貌景观、水体景观等提供了外动力条件。峨眉山的地质遗迹研究在古生物与地层学、沉积学、地球深部动力学、构造学等方面具有重要科学意义。     

5.12汶川地震对黄龙世界遗产地源泉水文地球化学的影响——高分辨率和高精度的水文地球化学监测证据

2008年5月12日的汶川特大地震不仅造成了惨重的人员伤亡和巨大的经济损失,而且对当地生态环境产生了严重的影响。本文根据黄龙钙华景观退化的人为和自然影响机理研究获得的部分高分辨率和高精度水文地球化学监测数据分析发现,大地震通过诱导控制黄龙源泉的深源断裂活动对源泉的水文地球化学产生了显著影响,主要表现为地震后泉流量、水温、电导率和CO2分压升高,反映出地震增加了地下向地表的水、热、钙离子和CO2通量。然而,地震对从泉水中沉积的钙华景观的后续影响以及汶川地震造成深源CO2向大气CO2释放对全球碳循环的影响,有待进一步的监测评估。      

The ICL Network on “Landslides and Cultural & Natural Heritage (LACUNHEN)”

In recent decades, the concept of cultural heritage has evolved into one that encompasses an understanding of the history of humanity, together with scientific knowledge and intellectual attitudes. This changing concept has prompted a subsequent re-evaluation of what constitutes the outstanding universal values of World Heritage sites and the operational methods for implementing the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. The scope has broadened from studying a single monument in isolation to one that values a multidimensional, multiregional, and inter-disciplinary approach and encapsulates vast spans of human history. Within this broader view, landslides and more generally slope instabilities are an important factor endangering cultural heritage sites, especially prehistoric sites, earth/rock monuments, and archaeological sites affected by environmental processes and degradation. Natural and cultural heritage sites, as well as cultural landscapes, are then tied into a common framework that the Geological Society of America has defined “Men’s legacy to Earth and Earth’s legacy to Man”. On the other hand, not too much effort has been expended in the past to develop conservation policies systematically integrating geological, geomorphological, and engineering geological aspects into daily practices. The purpose of the “LAndslides and CUltural & Natural HEritage” thematic Network (LACUNHEN) is to create a platform for scientists and practitioners who are ready to jointly contribute to safeguarding relevant endangered Natural and Cultural Heritage sites (e.g., Machu Picchu). They will share and disseminate their respective experience, demonstrating how these special “objects” require approaches, techniques, and solutions that go far beyond traditional civil engineering perspectives.     

Outstanding geological values: the basis of Mt Teide's World Heritage nomination

In 1972 UNESCO created the World Heritage List to 'preserve the world's superb natural and scenic areas and historic sites for the present and future generations of citizens of the entire world'. Nominated sites must be of 'outstanding universal value' and meet at least one of ten selection criteria, six cultural and four natural. Teide National Park (TNP) was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 2007 for its natural beauty and its 'global importance in providing evidence of the geological processes that underpin the evolution of oceanic islands' (Criteria vii and viii). The geological values rendering PNT an exceptional site are analysed in this article. Volcanism in Tenerife and TNP correspond to the Ocean Island Alkali Basalts (OIB), whereas the already nominated (1987) Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, from a different geodynamic setting, belongs to the Tholeiitic series (OIT). Both National Parks complement each other to represent the entire range of products, features and landscapes of oceanic islands. The main geological elements of this Park include Las Cañadas Caldera, one of the most spectacular, best exposed and accessible volcanic calderas on Earth, two active rifts, and two large felsic stratovolcanoes, Teide and Pico Viejo, rising 3718 m above sea level and around 7500 m above the ocean floor, together the third highest volcanic structure in the world after the Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea volcanoes on the island of Hawaii.     

Feature: UNESCO World Heritage and the Joggins cliffs of Nova Scotia

UNESCO World Heritage status is the highest honour that may be bestowed on a palaeontological site. In addition to heightening conservation status, it confers international recognition of a locality's 'outstanding universal value' and often triggers the release of substantial regional development funds. Despite these incentives it is, perhaps, not surprising that only a handful of fossil sites have successfully navigated the World Heritage selection process. In this feature, we draw on our recent experience of developing a World Heritage bid for the Pennsylvanian 'Coal Age' locality of Joggins, Nova Scotia. As well as demonstrating the huge significance of Joggins, we hope that our findings will provide valuable guidelines for the assessment of World Heritage fossil sites in general.     

Resonance in rocks: Building a sustainable learning and engagement programme for the Jurassic Coast

World Heritage Sites have a duty, through educational and information programmes, to strengthen appreciation and respect by their peoples of the cultural and natural heritage of that site. The Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site (JCWHS) showcases nearly 185 million years of Earth’s history across 95 miles of coast and exemplifies some of the most spectacular rocks, fossils and landforms in the world. However, imparting these values to non-specialist audiences of all ages, abilities and needs provides unique challenges and opportunities. A critical factor for success in addressing such a wide audience is ensuring that content is relevant, meaningful and focused on the expectations of the end user. In this paper we present our learning framework that is based around two approaches. Firstly, we map out the needs and expectations of each of our four core audience groups and set out guidelines for who we should aim our content at and how that should be delivered. Secondly, we set out three pathways (Inspire, Curious and Motivated) through which a person may choose to engage with the Jurassic Coast. We argue that if our tailored content and experiences can resonate with a person at an emotional and intellectual level, they will ultimately become devoted to the Jurassic Coast. Through empowering a community of people who understand and appreciate the geoheritage of the Jurassic Coast, they can become advocates and champions for its protection and conservation in the future.     

北京城市地质工作服务的新方向——地质遗迹景观资源的开发利用

本文在阐述北京城市地质工作和地质遗迹景观资源开发利用现状的基础上,通过地质公园建设实例,从推动地方经济发展和当地居民就业、加快城镇基础设施和生态环境建设、提升地学旅游品位和公众保护地质遗迹意识等三个方面论证了地质公园在保障城市经济健康和可持续发展中发挥的重要作用,从而有力阐明了开发利用地质遗迹景观资源是北京城市地质工作服务的一个新方向。本文还提出了今后北京地区地质遗迹景观资源开发利用对策。     

黔灵山公园地质遗迹类型及成因分析

黔灵山公园是国家AAAA级旅游区。公园由一系列具有特殊科学意义和美学价值,能够代表本地区地质历史和地质作用的地质遗迹组成,它是一处以断裂构造、水侵蚀作用造就的地质地貌景观为主,以自然生态和人文景观为辅,因明山、秀水、幽林、古寺、圣泉、灵猴而闻名遐迩。是集美学价值与科学价值于一身的国内为数不多的大型综合性城市公园。地质遗迹及地质景观是其主要的景观.主要有地质地貌景观、地质体景观、水体景观、古生物景观——古生物化石、孑遗生物、地质灾害遗迹景观——崩塌遗迹、典型地层剖面、地质工程遗迹等。本文就公园地质遗迹的类型、基本特征及成景地质作用进行了综合分析及初步研究。     

东平县地质遗迹特征与保护建议

东平县独特的地理位置造就了丰富的地质遗迹资源,其中,区域性标准剖面、岩溶地貌、岱崮地貌、流水侵蚀和堆积地貌、湖泊、湿地、河流、泉水水体景观等地质遗迹,对研究该区地球环境变迁、山体隆升地貌、水体变迁等形成演化过程具有较高的科学价值和意义,该文在对东平县地质遗迹开发利用现状分析的基础上,提出保护建议,旨在实现地质资源的可持续利用。     

Spectacular Macau: Visioning futures for a World Heritage City

This paper examines the conflicting sentiments generated by Macau’s recent developments and how these dynamics have helped galvanize particular visions among Macau’s residents holding different possessive relationships to the city. More specifically, it explores these processes through the simultaneous construction of two incongruent landscapes: a fantasyland of gaming and leisure propelled by the liberalization of the casino industry, and a ‘historic city of culture’ exemplified by Macau’s newly acquired UNESCO World Heritage City status. Building on Debord’s conception of the dialectic of the spectacle, this paper illustrates how the growing support for heritage conservation in Macau has been propelled by a shared anxiety over the phenomenal changes brought by an expanding casino industry and concomitant erosion of Macau’s cultural identity. Through extensive interviews with local architects, conservation experts and activists, I elucidate how the designation of Macau as a World Heritage City has helped consolidate particular sets of moral claims around heritage and culture as well as introduced new commodifications of the environment that cannot be easily delinked from other spaces of the ‘spectacle city’.     

The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) in Great Britain—Rationale and methods

Geoconservation – protecting, managing and enhancing natural geological features and materials, and geomorphological landforms and processes – is especially important in Great Britain, a place sometimes described as the ‘cradle’ of the science of geology. For such a small area of land, Britain has an unusually diverse geological make-up, with rocks from every geological period present. Many stratigraphical terms used internationally were devised here, and British sites provide key study areas where important new geological theories were developed in the pioneering era of the Earth sciences. Therefore, with such a wealth of geology, and Britain's seminal place in the science itself, it is particularly important to conserve and protect key localities here for future generations. A first step in that process is the auditing of the geology and geomorphology of Britain, by carrying out a scientific evaluation exercise according to standard criteria, and creating an inventory of the most important sites for science.In the mid-1970s, the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) began an ambitious programme for assessment and documentation of the most important sites for the scientific study of geology and geomorphology in Great Britain, building on previous statutory site conservation activity that had already been started in 1949 by the former Nature Conservancy. As a result, the ‘Geological Conservation Review’ (GCR) was formally launched in 1977. The GCR was a world-first project of its type in the systematic assessment of the whole geological heritage of a country, from first principles. Widespread consultation with geologists and geomorphologists across Great Britain was co-ordinated; their guidance and involvement was a key component of the site selection process. Almost 3000 nationally or internationally important sites had been selected for around 100 site-selection categories for the GCR register by 1990. Almost all the GCR sites are now conserved under British law as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), the GCR information providing the scientific evidence-base that underpins that designation.As part of the site-selection process – which is still active – a considerable archive of information about geological sites was amassed. A major publication exercise detailing all the GCR sites in what was to become the GCR Series of books was devised early on in the GCR programme.Thirty-six volumes of the GCR Series have been seen to completion by NCC and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, and many GCR site reports have been many made freely available on the World Wide Web. As a new venture, the remaining nine volumes will now be published by Elsevier Science Publishers as Special Issues of the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association. Each GCR volume includes an overview of the subject and outlines the history of study of the relevant branch of the Earth sciences, but most importantly contains detailed accounts of the features of geological importance in the sites described. A scientific interpretation is provided for each site account, which includes supportive illustrations, tables and photographs and an extensive reference list.The GCR rationale, methods and information resource have been invaluable in almost every aspect of geoconservation carried out in Britain, including World Heritage Site nominations, protection of stratotypes, justifying the scientific conservation value of sites at Public Inquiries, in stimulating geological research and in providing a readily available information resource for local, regional, national and international geoconservation activities.     

四川邻水华蓥山大峡谷地质公园地质遗迹资源体系及地学意义

华蓥山大峡谷地质公园是以峡谷、构造和岩溶地貌为代表的风景地貌类地质公园。本文以华蓥山大峡谷地质公园地质遗迹景观资源为基础, 以川东褶皱带构造单元、川东平行岭谷地貌单元和上扬子地层分区的部分地层区域为研究视角, 构建华蓥山大峡谷地质公园地质遗迹资源体系——包括地质(体、层)剖面、古生物活动遗迹、地貌景观、水体景观以及环境地质遗迹5个大类、15个类共100多处地质遗迹景点; 通过对各类地质遗迹的特征进行分析, 对前人研究进行总结, 探讨了地质公园地质遗迹重要的地学意义。研究表明, 华蓥山大峡谷地质遗迹在地质构造、地层、岩溶学、水文地质学以及地貌学等领域具有重要的科学价值。     

Geological heritage sites in South Australia

Beginning in 1966, research by the Geological Heritage Subcommittee of the South Australian Division of the Geological Society of Australia has identified over 450 geologically significant areas in the State, including those important or teaching and research. This work was partly funded from the National Estate Grants Program. In March 2008, Geological Monuments in South Australia, Parts 1–9 was published as a DVD in a joint project of the Geological Heritage Subcommittee and Primary Industries and Resources South Australia (now Department of State Development). Selection of sites for designation as places with geological heritage status was initially focussed on the settled areas of the State where threats from residential and other development were greatest. An objective assessment system was devised for Part 9 of this record to identify sites which best illustrated the geological features displayed in the remote and vast area of the South Australian portion of the Lake Eyre Drainage Basin. An initial review identified 96 sites with heritage potential. These were then assessed in terms of the presence or otherwise of seven criteria considered to be essential attributes for heritage status. Each of these potential sites was then ranked on a merit scale of the quality of each of the attributes present. A score of the percentage of the maximum points available at each site was calculated. Of the 96 potential sites assessed, 24 recorded a score of 67% or more, and the remainder scored well below this figure.