Temporal outline of geological heritage sites in the Western Caucasus

Abstract

Geological heritage sites (geosites) have various properties such as accessibility, geometry, and vulnerability, as well as age. It is reasonable to distinguish the geological ages related to the content of geosites (e.g., Early Ordovician or Valanginian) from the technical ages related to the physical appearance (forms) of geosites (e.g., Late Pleistocene, Prehistoric, or 21st century). This study examines 17 geosites known from the Western Caucasus—a geologically-rich area of the Greater Caucasus orogen. The revision and the update of the stratigraphical information allow to establish their geological ages. The technical ages are defined as old (before the 19th century), historical (19th–20th centuries), or young (the beginning of the 21st century). The results show that the analyzed geosites shed light on the lengthy time span (from the late Proterozoic to the Quaternary), and the Cisuralian–Early Cretaceous sedimentary succession of the study area is represented with significant completeness. Technically, the geosites are chiefly old, although the historical and young features are also common. The outcomes of this study do not only systematize the knowledge of the ages of the geosites from the Western Caucasus, but also have several practical implications (for instance, the conservation of the technically young geosites is the priority, and the geological ages are important to arrange the geosites logically for educational and touristic excursions).