Murray Gray

Geodiversity: developing the paradigm

The term ‘geodiversity’ was first used in 1993 as the geological equivalent of biodiversity. It has gained in international acceptance and usage in recent years and now warrants the status of a geological paradigm. This article develops some new theoretical and practical aspects of geodiversity, including a discussion of the origin and evolution of the geodiversity of Planet Earth and whether there are geodiversity hotspots. Although the word ‘geodiversity’ is a relatively recent introduction, the concept has been used as the basis for selecting geoconservation sites in many countries and is being used increasingly to guide the nomination and assessment process for geological World Heritage Sites. The paper then discusses the aims and methods of geoconservation and how these vary depending on which element of geodiversity is being considered. Finally, the relevance of geodiversity to geotourism, leisure activities and geoparks is explored.

Other nature: geodiversity and geosystem services

The concepts of biodiversity and ecosystem services have become widely established and adopted within and beyond nature conservation circles. But biotic nature is only part of nature. The existence and importance of abiotic nature often goes unrecognized and is certainly undervalued. This Comment tries to redress the balance by outlining some recent developments in valuing and conserving abiotic nature, particularly the important concepts of geodiversity and geosystem services.

Why geodiversity matters in valuing nature's stage

Geodiversity--the variability of Earths surface materials, forms, and physical processes-is an integral part of nature and crucial for sustaining ecosystems and their services. It provides the substrates, landform mosaics, and dynamic physical processes for habitat development and maintenance. By determining the heterogeneity of the physical environment in conjunction with climate interactions, geodiversity has a crucial influence on biodiversity across a wide range of scales. From a literature review, we identified the diverse values of geodiversity; examined examples of the dependencies of biodiversity on geodiversity at a site-specific scale (for geosites <1 km(2) in area); and evaluated various human-induced threats to geosites and geodiversity. We found that geosites are important to biodiversity because they often support rare or unique biota adapted to distinctive environmental conditions or create a diversity of microenvironments that enhance species richness. Conservation of geodiversity in the face of a range of threats is critical both for effective management of natures stage and for its own particular values. This requires approaches to nature conservation that integrate climate, biodiversity, and geodiversity at all spatial scales.

Valuing Geodiversity in an 'Ecosystem Services' Context

Abstract The ‘ecosystem services’ approach is being used throughout the world to assess the value that society derives from the natural world. Many of these values have been difficult to describe and/or quantify, and this approach has therefore been adopted in an attempt to assess the qualitative and quantitative value of nature. Both the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005) and the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UKNEA 2011) classified these services into Regulating, Supporting, Provisioning and Cultural Services. But both the MA and the NEA only include services that involve ecosystem processes or functional interactions between the biotic and abiotic worlds. Consequently they exclude services that are purely abiotic, and therefore grossly underestimate the value of nature. This paper outlines the goods and services that society derives from the geodiversity of planet Earth. These may be termed ‘abiotic ecosystem services’ or ‘geosystem services’, but a more holistic term for all goods and services derived from the natural world would be ‘natural services’.

Geodiversity: The Backbone of Geoheritage and Geoconservation

Abstract ‘Geodiversity’ is the abiotic equivalent of biodiversity and describes the variety of geological, geomorphological, pedological and hydrological features and processes. It is a value-free term. ‘Geoheritage’, on the other hand, refers to those elements of the planet’s geodiversity that are assessed as worthy of conservation and thus relies on subjective judgement. Geoconservation, at international, national and subnational levels often involves selecting sites that are representative of an area’s geodiversity. Geodiversity also benefits society by providing a large number of the goods and services (geosystem services or abiotic ecosystem services) on which human well-being and prosperity depends. The chapter’s conclusion is that geodiversity is the backbone of geoheritage, geoconservation and indeed of modern society itself.

Large-Scale Geomorphological Field Mapping: Teaching the First Stage.

Abstract There is an absence of training in large‐scale geomorphological field mapping in many geography departments, despite the renewal of interest in mapping which has been created by applied geomorphology. This paper describes ways of teaching the initial steps of mapping on to 1:10,000 scale base maps, together with some common student pitfalls, some solutions and some examples of exercises.

Holocene book review: Geodiversity of Vorarlberg and Liechtenstein

Geodiversity is the abiotic equivalent of biodiversity and has been defined as ‘the natural range (diversity) of geological (rocks, minerals, fossils), geomorphological (landforms, topography, physical processes), soil and hydrological features’ (Gray, 2013). According to the title, this book is about geodiversity in Vorarlberg (western Austria) and Liechtenstein, but it is entirely focused on geomorphological mapping at the landscape unit scale. Furthermore, the title is rather misleading in another way in that the methodology presented could be applied anywhere, and therefore, the book is far from being a parochial description of the geomorphological diversity of one small part of the Alps. The volume comprises both German and English versions, each about 150 pages long, and in my view, it is best described as a bilingual monograph in nine chapters. Chapter 1 includes an outline of the geology and geomorphology of the area. Relevant to the Holocene are the interactions between the waning glaciers and the rivers, including reworking of glacial deposits to form terraces and fans in many of the valleys. The melting of the glaciers also created slope instability with landslides and other mass movement features evolving, while the carbonate rocks have been subjected to dissolution to form karst landscapes and landforms. Chapter 2 describes the two types of geomorphological maps used in the study. The first is the so-called classical geomorphological map derived from field mapping/checking. In the alpine mountainous area involved in this study, the classical maps using traditional geomorphological symbols and shadings were converted into a morphogenetic classification scheme based on nine process groups – glacial, fluvial, mass movement, periglacial, organic, karst, aeolian, anthropogenic and water – and these are subdivided into a total of 33 landform/deposit types, each with a distinctive colour and GIS code. These are described in some detail in a glossary at the end of the monograph. The second type of map used in the study is the computer-generated geomorphological map, which can either be produced by converting the field maps into GIS-based maps by digitising the unit boundaries, or derived anew from high-resolution digital data of the Earth’s surface, such as LIDAR imagery. The overall aim of the study is to identify landscapes worthy of geoconservation with the intention of aiding land management decision-making in the study areas. Chapter 3 outlines the methodology for achieving this using a weighting and ranking system for the geomorphological units (also referred to as ‘geomorphosites’) to create ‘geoconservation potential’ maps (Seijmonsbergen et al., 2010). Four quantitative traits are used to weigh the value of each geomorphological unit – scientific relevance, frequency of occurrence, disturbance and environmental vulnerability. The first two are regarded geo-ecological factors and thus as the primary traits and given the greatest weighting using three levels of fixed numerical values for low, medium and high importance (1-4-7 for scientific relevance and 1-3-5 for frequency of occurrence). Disturbance and environmental vulnerability are regarded as socio-economic factors and given the lesser weightings of 1-2-3. Weightings for each geomorphological unit are then combined to give scores reflecting the geoconservation potential for each unit. Scores of 14 and over are then regarded as having a ‘high degree of significance’ and ‘deserve prime attention in terms of becoming a potential geoconservation site’ (p. 176). The important point is made that additional qualitative traits such as status of protection, scenery, vegetation, soil, hydrology and geology can be taken into account in final decision-making. It is also true that geomorphological units can gain importance through their association with adjacent units, and points like this can be taken into account in modifying the rankings, which are then included in the GIS database. The final section of Chapter 3 and then Chapters 5–8 apply the methodology to four areas in eight municipalities in the Vorarlberg and Liechtenstein. These are very useful in illustrating, with the aid of several coloured maps and photographs, how the methodology works in practice. Chapter 4, which describes progress on semi-automated geomorphological mapping, then appears to interrupt the logical flow of the treatise, although it does provide a highly technical account of this field for those interested in the details of digital elevation models, geomorphometry and related accuracy assessments. Chapter 9 presents some concluding remarks, the main one of which is that within the study area ‘A variety of geomorphological processes acting on a diverse geological substratum and dramatic climatic changes over a relatively short time span have inevitably created a wide range of geodiversity’. However, as mentioned in the first part of this review, the focus on geomorphology at a landscape unit scale means that only part of the region’s full geodiversity has been considered. This makes some sense because of the impact that development and tourism pressures are having on the area, creating a need for land use planning policies and land management tools that take account of the region’s geodiversity. The authors rightly see their study as potentially providing a link between the academic activity of geomorphological mapping and the practical need for better land management planning in areas such as this. The book is important in providing a methodology that can be applied to the assessment of geoconservation potential in mountainous and other areas and can be added to the growing number of studies attempting to quantify geodiversity, compile Holocene book reviews 569134 HOL0010.1177/0959683615569134The HoloceneHolocene book reviews research-article2015