Geosites and geological landscape map of Liguria (Italy)

Description

Since the beginning of the Third Millennium, an ever-increasing interest of geoheritage has been observed, either in scientific terms or in practical point of view, with the resulting socio-economic consequences. Geoheritage represents the basic element of the landscape and it often has strong links with other elements of the territory like historical geography, land-use setting, landscape protection, nature conservation, etc. Oneimportant link is tied to the environmental protection task, because most part of the Italian protected areas are mainly established above Earth Sciences features. Consequently, a lot of geosite sare included into these important natural sites. The issue of geoheritage and geosites has become object of national and regional laws: in Italy the cultural heritage and landscape code was issued in 2004 while in Liguria the Regional Law n. 39/2009 establishes the rules for the valorisation of the geodiversity, geosites and karst areas. Here we present an overview of geosites and geological landscape of Liguria (North West Italy); in addition to the recent regional database and georeferencing activities of the Ligurian geosites, through a reworking of a simplified geological map addressed also for non-geologists, a geotematic map has been defined. In particular, this product emphasizes the relationship between geology and landscape, showing how different rock masses produce several landforms of outstanding natural beauty in the ligurian territory. The map shows the basic concepts of geoscience by looking closely at the landscape we see in front of us every day. From the coast to the Alps and Apennines watershed, we identified several geological landscape units characterized by specific rock masses, soils and particular geological and geomorphological features, such as: 1) Palaeolandslides landscape; 2) Ligurian alluvial floodplains; 3)Ligurian coastal plains; 4) the Flysch rock masses; 5) Ophiolitic crags; 6) Conglomerate peaks; 7) Karstic massif; 8) Quartzite and Cherts rock masses; 9) Sandstone spurs; 10) Shales and schists domain; 11) Windows on the Paleozoic; 12) Plio- Quaternary landscape. More than 500 geosites classified in a recent specific regional database were then overlapped on the geological landscape units: they have been distinguished according to interest, for different geothematic categories, according to the proposal of enhancement. The Ligurian geosites and geological landscape overview map could represents a friendly tool to identify the most relevant regional geological heritage.

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