Identifying and Assessing Geodiversities Around Takht-e Soleyman World Heritage Site to Propose the Territory as the Third Geopark in Iran

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, humans paid special attention to applying criteria for the assessment of geodiversity and the introduction of the country’s geoheritage to conserve this valuable abiotic natural heritage and to use it in a sustainable way, especially via new emergence of the geotourism industry. In Iran, scientific discussion of geotourism was not introduced in academic textbooks until the registration of the Qeshm Island (for the first time) in the Global Geopark Network (GGN) in 2006. However, in spite of being delisted in 2012, it made it to be listed again in GGN in 2017. Meanwhile, the academics, including students, have made valuable unorganized national efforts to identify more territories as potential national/global geoparks by choosing to work on the topic as a master’s or Ph.D. thesis. These efforts accompanying the published textbooks have played a significant role in eliminating the merely aesthetics point of view toward geotourism and geopark own-made philosophy which was first introduced mistakenly by the Geological Survey & Mineral Explorations of Iran. Today, the number of those interested in the field is growing and thanks to the academic books published, the awareness of the issue has been increased. Fortunately, this is the first successful academic project related to a region’s Geopark feasibility study in Iran completed in 2014, which had been completed partly by the financial support of Geological Survey & Mineral Explorations of Iran and by the cooperation of some geo-colleagues from this organization as a teamwork with this university project. The study area is located around the UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, namely Takht-e Soleyman in the northwest of Iran that is rich in terms of geodiversity, biodiversity, and historical–cultural diversity. However, unfortunately, the study area is in a poor condition economically. Accordingly, the establishment of a geopark in the region can increase job creation, prevent immigration of the villagers to the cities, and flourish the economic conditions of the region. In this study, two assessment methods have been used for evaluating selected geodiversities in the field, where each of them includes some parameters and sub-parameters. Based on calculated scores for each geological/geomorphological site and making use of interpolation methods in a GIS environment, the geopark territory, and the best preliminary geotrail in the study region were selected. The results of the study show that both methodologies prove high conservation importance of the geoheritage and other cultural–environmental (geographical) heritage perspective for this territory which represents the importance of sustainable application of resources by registering a geopark as a managerial strategy in this area. Consequently, related maps for future studies and filed works have been produced. According to the geopark and geotrail preliminary maps, the area has the potential for more studies, further community engagement (about 44 villages) studies, and consequently governmental and the private sectors’ investments and preparing sustainable tourism infrastructures to be listed as a national geopark and later as a global geopark.