Abstract
Geotourism is a useful way to educate societies in the field of geomorphology and related natural hazards. Geosites, including geomorphosites, represent the basis for the development of this type of tourism. This study describes 12 representative gully regions within nine European countries. The characteristics of 42 permanent gullies, gully systems, and badland landscapes are presented. Based on scientific values of the sites, educational lessons to be learned were identified that are mainly related to (i) gullies as a geological window, (ii) present-day geomorphological processes and (iii) stages of historical gully erosion reflecting past human–environment interactions. To evaluate possible education activities, a geotouristic assessment of the studied gullies and badlands was made, based on scientific, educational, functional and touristic indicators. This assessment demonstrates a large difference between the selected gully and badland sites, particularly with regard to functional and tourist values. The geotouristic potential of gullies (badlands) is the highest in Italy and Spain and the lowest in Romania and Latvia. In some countries, permanent gullies are not regarded as geotouristic attractions at all, while in others, they constitute a significant element of their tourism development strategy. In our opinion, all activities must be part of a broader strategy for the development of geotourism in gully and badland regions, for example, gullies may be included as geosites within existing or planned geoparks.
Highlights
Educating society about processes shaping the surface of the Earth is a fundamental task and a challenge of contemporary geomorphology
The objectives of this study are (i) to select representative gully regions/sites in various European regions, (ii) to indicate the most important scientific and educational lessons to be learned from these sites and (iii) to evaluate the geotouristic value of the selected gully sites
The proposed Italian sites were selected as possible geomorphosites because (i) they are representative of the severely gullied landscapes characterizing the Central Italy Pliocene marine deposits; (ii) they are the result of particular interrelations between geomorphic processes and human activity, culture and history; and (iii) they have been the subject of many scientific investigations and, provide many opportunities for scientific dissemination of geomorphological hazards and human-induced landscape
Summary
Educating society about processes shaping the surface of the Earth is a fundamental task and a challenge of contemporary geomorphology. Contemporary geomorphological processes may cause negative impacts for people and society, and it is. 12 Department of Geography, Europe-University, Auf dem Campus 1, 25943 Flensburg, Germany. 13 Geographical Institute, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55099 Mainz, Germany. 15 Department of Geography, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Daugavpils University, Parādes 1, Daugavpils LV-5401, Latvia much easier to efficiently counteract these phenomena when the general public understands the nature and scale of the threat. This study focusses on one of these processes, namely gully erosion, which is a major natural hazard in many parts of the world (Valentin et al 2005; Castillo and Gomez 2016). The impact of permanent gullies on historical and present-day land use and agriculture can be observed at both local and regional scales The impact of permanent gullies on historical and present-day land use and agriculture can be observed at both local and regional scales (e.g. Kuhlman et al 2010; Zgłobicki and BaranZgłobicka 2011; Vergari et al 2013; Yitbarek et al 2012; Zgłobicki et al 2015a)
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