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Geosites Inventory in the Leon Province (Northwestern Spain): A Tool to Introduce Geoheritage into Regional Environmental Management

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Abstract

This paper deals with the main results and methodological processing of the first inventory of Geosites of the province of Leon (Autonomous Region of Castile and Leon, Spain). The inventory was designed to be used as a tool for introducing geoheritage in regional and local environmental management. This main aim determined the methodology of selection, study, description, and evaluation of every site. One of the main contributions in this work is the proposal of classifying Geosites in five typological categories: point, section, area, complex area, and viewpoint. This grouping allows one to summarize the basic features and the best way to popularize each geosite. We also detail both the problematic of dealing with diverse types of Geosites and the management advices proposed to solve it.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to express their gratitude to the project's research group [E. Alonso Herrero (photo in Fig. 13, left), J.M. Redondo Vega (photo in Fig. 12), J. Cortizo Álvarez, J. Santos González (photo in Fig. 11), A. Gómez Villar, R.B. González Gutiérrez, and A. Herrero Hernández] and to several external experts for their efforts, knowledge, and time. Pablo Pascual and Rodrigo Castaño lent us photos in Figs. 6 and 15, respectively. We are also very grateful to the Environmental Council of Junta de Castilla and Leon for supporting the project and in particular to the technical staff who supervised it: Juan del Nido and Pilar Cabrera.

Special thanks to Ramón Gutiérrez for his precise advice on the English language. We also thank Enrique Díaz Martínez (IGME, Madrid), who offered helpful review of the manuscript and W. Wimbledon, who made a meticulous revision. Thanks to the comments from one external reviewer, the paper improved considerably.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana, s/n. 24071, León, Spain

    I. Fuertes-Gutiérrez & E. Fernández-Martínez

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  1. I. Fuertes-Gutiérrez
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  2. E. Fernández-Martínez
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Correspondence to I. Fuertes-Gutiérrez.

Appendix

Appendix

Map of the Leon province showing the position and main interest of the Geosites considered in this inventory.

Table listing the Geosites considered in the inventory. For each Geosite, the name, typology, main interest, and membership to a protected area are indicated.

Table 2 Analysis of selected sites
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Fuertes-Gutiérrez, I., Fernández-Martínez, E. Geosites Inventory in the Leon Province (Northwestern Spain): A Tool to Introduce Geoheritage into Regional Environmental Management. Geoheritage 2, 57–75 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-010-0012-y

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