Abstract
The assessment of geodiversity is a relatively new field of research connecting abiotic aspects of nature to the wider environment. The study of geodiversity is still in development, so a uniform and complete paradigm remains to be defined. Therefore, an assessment of geodiversity may be highly dependent on the nature of the territory subject to study, available databases, and the researchers’ field of specialization. The main quantitative method for the assessment of geodiversity was proposed to the scientific world only few years ago and may only be relevant to some places in the world, rather than all, which would be desirable. However, while similarities in research methods may be apparent, the directions, scales, and data utilized are clearly different. This article demonstrates a quantitative-qualitative method for an assessment of geodiversity, based on a five-point evaluation system and the utilization of widely available standard databases such as geological maps, SRTM models, and satellite images. Western Samoa Islands (Savai’i and Upolu Islands) were selected for assessment, as a typical example of basaltic ocean island volcanism generating relatively homogenous rock formations and subject to gradual geomorphology (e.g., shield volcano). While initially appearing as a region of simple geology and morphology, complexity is added by considering rock ages, the position and type of eruptive centres, and the coastal geoenvironment. By considering these factors, the assessment becomes specifically tailoring for geodiversity assessment of the islands of Samoa. In conclusion, it has been demonstrated a simple methodology of general assessment of geodiversity with additional improvements to take account of variability in other abiotic factors.
Highlights
Geodiversity assessment is a field still in development and is strongly associated with the physical area of study and associated materials such as maps, GIS data bases, LiDAR files, thematic maps, and other models
This paper demonstrates an example of geodiversity assessment geodiversity with minimal data requirements applied to the Western Samoa Islands
Our results define the finalized values used for the geomorphological (Figure 7) and geological (Figure 8) assessment of Western Samoa based on the methodology and regeological (Figure 8) assessment of Western Samoa based on the methodology and required quired data described in the sections above
Summary
Geodiversity assessment is a field still in development and is strongly associated with the physical area of study and associated materials such as maps, GIS data bases, LiDAR files, thematic maps, and other models. The term geodiversity is based on collaborative ideas presented by Gray, Kozłovski, Serrano, and others [1,2,3,4,5]. They claimed that geodiversity is a feature/attribute of abiotic nature, which includes geology, geomorphology, hydrology, soil science, climate and connected weathering processes, and human and biological impacts. Geodiversity became a starting point for two other terms: geosite and geoheritage. Geoheritage refers to the values describing geosites with some uniqueness and significance in recording the Earth’s history and demonstrating
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