Abstract
Geohazards pose significant threats to cultural and natural heritage worldwide. In the UK, only 1 out of 29 UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites has been inscribed on the list of World Heritage in Danger, whilst it is widely accepted that many more could be affected by geohazards. In this paper we set out the foundations of a methodological approach to analyse geological, geohazard and remote sensing data available at the British Geological Survey to retrieve an overview of geohazards affecting the UK WHL sites. The Castles and Town Walls (constructed in the time of King Edward I) in Gwynedd in north Wales are used as test sites to showcase the methodology for geohazard assessment at the scale of individual property also to account for situations of varied geology and local topography across multiproperty WHL sites. How such baseline geohazard assessment can be combined with space-borne radar interferometry (InSAR) data is showcased for the four UNESCO WHL sites located in Greater London. Our analysis feeds into the innovative contribution that the JPI-CH project PROTHEGO ‘PROTection of European cultural HEritage from GeOhazards’ (www.prothego.eu) is making towards mapping geohazards in the 400+ WHL sites of Europe by exploiting non-invasive remote sensing methods and surveying technologies.
Highlights
Geohazards pose significant threats to cultural and natural heritage worldwide [1]
The UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) site in Gwynedd was used as a demonstration site to test the methodology of geohazard assessment at the scale of individual properties, as a large portion of the sites in the UK is defined by property boundaries, i.e. Core Areas, without an official Buffer Zone serving as an additional layer of protection to a World Heritage property [23]
About 25% of the total extent of the property and 50 m buffer is classed “C” – i.e. slope instability may be present or anticipated and site investigation should be carried out to upscale the hazard assessment, while 6% is classed “D” – i.e. slope instability problems are probably present and might have already occurred in the past. These figures indicate that Caernarfon and Harlech are contrasting examples of the different types of property and environmental setting that can be observed across the Gwynedd UNESCO WHL site, and that the methodological approach followed in this work enables the identification of the impact of these differences on the potential geohazards
Summary
Geohazards pose significant threats to cultural and natural heritage worldwide [1]. A number of UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) monuments and sites are affected and impacted by shallow and deep geological and landscape processes including landslides, subsidence, ground collapse, coastal retreat, floods, earthquakes and volcanic activity, some of which influenced, or triggered by, extreme meteorological events, or exacerbated by climate change and anthropogenic interaction. Our analysis feeds into the innovative contribution that the collaborative research project PROTHEGO ‘PROTection of European cultural HEritage from GeO-hazards’ [3] is making towards mapping geohazards in the 400+ WHL sites of Europe by exploiting mainly satellite radar interferometry (InSAR) ground motion data, as well as other non-invasive remote sensing methods and surveying technologies such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and LiDAR. Geohazards for the whole set of European WHL sites are analysed by ISPRA during Work Package 1 (WP1): UNESCO cultural heritage and natural hazards at European scale [5], using datasets available homogeneously for the European territory (e.g. European landslide susceptibility map, Peak Ground Accelerations map) to create a baseline layer identifying potential threats to each site. In the UK, this analysis will be done by BGS for the industrial heritage of the Derwent Valley Mills in Derbyshire in central England [6]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
