Geomorphological Heritage of UNESCO Global Geoparks

Abstract

The development of geotourism and geoeducation is the best way to transfer geomorphological knowledge to society. This is how, it is possible to demonstrate that it is a scientific discipline of great cognitive and applied importance. Geomorphologists should become more actively involved in educational activities which, in the case of geoheritage, are mainly carried out within geoparks. The UNESCO Global Geoparks network has the highest rank and thus attractiveness for geotourists. They also play a very important role when it comes to education about Earth sciences, including geomorphology. The question arises, however, to what extent the current network of geoparks is representative of the geomorphological diversity of our planet. This paper conducts a geospatial analysis of the main landforms, structural units, lithologies and genetic types of landscapes found within 213 global geoparks. Geoparks most often include mountainous areas (72% of the area) formed during the Alpine orogenesis (43%), underlain by carbonate (18%) and siliciclastic (14%) rocks. The most common areas are those with tectonic (31%), volcanic (14%) and karst (11%) relief origins. The share of individual types of areas within geoparks usually differs from their share in the land area of the world and individual continents. Geoparks are characterised by a high diversity of lithologic composition and landscape genetic types. In contrast, UNESCO Global Geoparks show less diversity in terms of their affiliation to structural units and major landforms of the continents. It appears that the current network of geoparks does not fully reflect the global diversity of the continents'' geodiversity in terms of geomorphology.