Granite landforms of Samui Island (southern Thailand) from geoheritage, geoconservation and geotourism perspectives

Abstract

Samui Island (or Koh Samui in Thai) is a popular tourist destination in Southern Thailand. It is a part of Surat Thani province and located off the east coast of Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand. This island is composed of granitic rocks and is blessed with several unique granite landforms. An investigation has been conducted in several localities of granite landforms in this island to assess and evaluate their potentials for geoheritage, geoconservation, and geotourism. Several geological sites have been selected for this study including Hinta-Hinyai Rocks (granite outcrops similar to human genital organs), Lamai Overlapping Rocks (the overlapping and balancing giant granite boulders), and Na Mueang Waterfalls (waterfalls with purple-shaded rocks). Assessment and evaluation have been carried out by using qualitative and quantitative approaches based on geoheritage values (scientific, educational, aesthetic, recreational, cultural, etc.), levels of significance, as well as their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis). The outcomes show that Samui Island contains several geoheritage resources with exceptional values, thus geoconservation measures should be conducted in all these sites for some purposes, such as research and education as well as geotourism development.