A preliminary study on the protection method of geological relics in Huguan Gorge National Geopark, Shanxi
Resource Survey and Environment, 2012.02, Zhang Zhonghui
Abstract:With the deepening of tourism geoscience research and the continuous improvement of the construction of geoparks, the protection of geological relics as the core of the construction of geoparks is becoming more and more important and urgent. This paper is a summary of the author's several years of work in the protection of geological relics in Huguan Canyon National Geopark, the main purpose is to find out the existing problems and deficiencies through the analysis of the current situation of the protection of geological relics in the park on the basis of systematic classification of the protection of geological relics, and to formulate scientific countermeasures and measures to achieve the health and sustainable development of the park.
The protection of geological relics is one of the three major tasks of the construction of geoparks [1]. According to the principle of "focusing on protection, developing in protection, and promoting protection with development", the protection of geological relics is the top priority of the construction of geoparks. Shanxi Huguan Canyon National Geopark is the fourth batch of national geoparks approved by the Ministry of Land and Resources in 2005, and was unveiled in 2008. In the construction of the park, in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Land and Resources, a park management agency has been set up successively, the park planning has been prepared, the engineering protection of important endangered geological relics has been carried out, the theme monument of the park, the geological square, the geological museum and the marking system have been built, the park tour guide manual, picture album, and scientific tour guide map have been produced, and the tour guides of the park have been trained in geological knowledge, and certain experience has been gained in the protection of geological relics, but there are also many problems. In this paper, on the basis of the analysis and research of the distribution of geological relics in the park, the current status of protection, and the existing problems, we formulate countermeasures and measures for protection.
1 Park basics
Shanxi Huguan Canyon National Geopark is located in the main peak area of Taihang Mountain, east of Huguan County, and the geographical coordinates are: longitude 113°16′-113°39′30"E, latitude 35°49′15"-36°02 N. 'Consists of the Grand Canyon and a series of branch gorges that run east-west across the Taihang Mountains (Figure 1). These tributaries respectively constitute the five scenic spots of Baquan Gorge, Qinglong Gorge, Hongdou Gorge, Wuzhi Gorge and Wang Mang Gorge, with a total area of 148.4km2.
The park is composed of a series of geological relics and sites with typical scientific, rare and aesthetic value, which can represent the geological history of the region, geological events and geological processes at specific stages.
(1) The Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon, which is spread in an east-west direction, cuts off the Taihang Mountain, forming a natural geological section of more than 100 kilometers long, and systematically exposing the Neo-Archaic, Medieval Paleo, Cambrian, Ordovician, Carboniferous, Permian, Jurassic, And fourth series, etc., becoming an important base for studying the history of geological development and evolution in North China.
(2) The park is located on the paleocontinental core of the North China land block (platform), which has been in a tectonically stable state for a long time, and has developed a relatively complete and representative set of platform-type sediments, and completely preserved the sedimentary remains of the marine environment of the Middle Proterozoic and Paleozoic era, especially the surface and sea environment.
(3) The canyon group geomorphology composed of the Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon and its branch gorges systematically shows various landform forms such as peak rocks, cliffs, canyons, caves, collapses, erosions, and accumulations, and is one of the most complete areas of the Taihang Mountains tectonic landform exposure, and is a natural classroom for geomorphology teaching.
(4) The caves and Tiansheng Bridges exposed along the cliffs on both sides of the Grand Canyon represent the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment of the geological and historical stage of The Taihang Mountains. The distribution of stone stalactites, stalagmites, stone pillars, stone mantles, stone flowers, stone ears, side stone dams, travertine dams, etc. distributed in the caves is of great significance for the study of the formation of the caves and the changes in paleoclimate and paleoclimate.
2 Status quo of protection of geological relics in the park
2.1 Resources of geological relics in the park
According to the geological landscape classification scheme of the Technical Requirements and Work Guidelines for the Construction of China National Geoparks (Trial, 2002), the geological relics in the park can be divided into 6 categories, 38 sub-categories and more than 120 species[2], and these geological relics are concentrated in six scenic spots, including the Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon Baquan Gorge, Qinglong Gorge, Wanfoshan Mountain, Hongdou Gorge, Wuzhi Gorge and Wang Mang Gorge (Table 1
2.2 Status quo of protection of geological relics
2.2.1 Types of geological monuments protection
According to the behavioral characteristics, methods and methods of geological relics protection, we divide the protection of geological relics into three categories (Figure 2).
2.2.2 Status quo of protection of geological relics at home and abroad
At present, the protection of geological relics at home and abroad is mainly through the declaration of natural heritage, geoparks, national parks, nature reserves and other ways to protect, especially geoparks have become the most effective means of protecting geological relics [3].
Since the establishment of the first batch of national geoparks by the Ministry of Land and Resources of China in 2000, the Ministry of Land and Resources and some provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have set up special funds for geological relics protection projects to support the protection of geological relics in domestic geoparks. Up to now, nearly 3,000 important geological relics have been effectively protected[4], a total of 585 scientific research and science popularization activities including scientific report meetings and summer camps for primary and secondary school students have been held, more than 500 kinds of general reading materials on geological sciences have been published, 1.1 billion tourists have been publicized to earth science knowledge, 21,000 scientific interpretation boards have been established, 127 museums have been established or are under construction, 187 science popularization education bases have been established, and the total number of science popularization education has reached 160 million.
2.2.3 Status quo of protection of geological relics in the park
The protection of the geological relics of Huguan Canyon began in 2005 when it became a national geopark. The park mainly carries out the following three aspects of work in the protection of geological relics.
(1) A management agency for the protection of geological relics in the park has been established to monitor and maintain the content of the protection to prevent the destruction and pollution of geological relics.
(2) Formulated the management rules and publicity activities plan for the geological relics of the park, and actively publicized the geological museum and field science popularization route that has been built, and continuously enhanced the public's consciousness of protecting nature and protecting the ecological environment.
(3) Engineering protection measures have been implemented for some endangered geological sites. According to the distribution characteristics of the geological relics of Huguan Gorge in Shanxi, the "point" protection is adopted for typical geological phenomena, the "line" protection is adopted for typical stratigraphic profiles and structural profiles, the "surface" protection is adopted for large-scale geological landform landscapes, and the demarcation piles of geological relics protection areas are protected [5].
3 Existing problems and countermeasures
3.1 Problems
In order to protect the precious geological relics of the park, the Huguan County People's Government and the Huguan Canyon National Geopark Management Office have done a lot of work and invested a certain amount of money. Overall, however, progress has been slow and the results have been less pronounced. Compared with the protection of geological relics in geoparks in neighboring provinces and cities, there is a certain gap, and there are many difficulties and problems in the protection of geological relics.
(1) The investigation and evaluation of geological relics is lagging behind, and the amount of resources is unclear. The detailed investigation of the geological relics of the park has not yet been fully carried out, and more geological relics have yet to be investigated. A comprehensive and systematic survey of geological monuments has not yet been carried out. There is no accurate data on the distribution, quantity, scale, type, genesis attributes, scientific value and development value of the geological relics in the park, and there is no complete login data, which brings certain difficulties to the establishment of the protection object, the determination of the scope and level of protection, the development planning and evaluation[ 6].
(2) The park management agency lacks professionals, and the management personnel's understanding of geological relics is relatively vague. The management personnel of the geopark management agency are partly staffed by the Huguan County Land and Resources Bureau, and part of them are recruited by the society, lacking basic professional quality, and not having a correct understanding of the importance of geological relics, which affects the understanding of heritage protection. The protection of geological relics is in the stage of treating the symptoms but not the root causes.
(3) The means of protecting geological relics are single and backward, and lack scientific, systematic and complete. At present, the protection of geological relics in the park is mainly engineering protection, only the fence is used to protect individual geological relics points, the protection content lacks scientificity, systematicness and integrity, and the protection means are single and backward, which is difficult to meet the needs of geological relics protection and the construction of geological parks.
3.2 Countermeasures
3.2.1 Protection Policies
(1) Implement a special financial fund system for the protection and management of geological relics. The special funds for geological relics are mainly paid by governments at all levels from the two rights price. The special funds shall be used by the competent administrative department of land and resources for the protection, management, scientific research and other social welfare undertakings of geological relics.
(2) Improve the talent structure of management institutions and strengthen the geological knowledge training of management personnel. A sound management institution and an orderly management system are the guarantee for the construction and management of the geopark. According to the requirements of the National Geopark, each park must be equipped with 3 to 5 geological professionals. In addition, the park management agency must also regularly select personnel to participate in various trainings or hire geological experts to train all staff in the park. To make the park manager fully aware of the importance of geological relics protection and the technical requirements and technical processes of geological relics protection.
(3) Carry out the investigation of the geological relics of the park and accelerate the registration process of the protection of the geological relics of the park. The investigation of geological relics is the most basic task to find out the status of geological relics resources. Only by fully understanding the number, type, distribution, protection and degree of development and utilization of geological relics can we reasonably formulate plans for the protection and development of geological relics, as well as effective protection measures. On the basis of the survey, geological monuments are also registered. The login content includes: the name, location, type, scope, geological profile, level of the relic, traffic conditions, preservation environment, degree of threat, protection recommendations, etc.; The history, cultural heritage, social economy, ecological environment, scenic spots, etc. where the geological relics are located [7].
(4) Establish a geological relics assessment system and implement a system for the collection of operating royalties for geological relics. The competent administrative departments for land and resources shall organize and carry out the assessment of geological relics, and implement a system of collection and payment of fees for the operation of geological relics on the basis of the assessment of geological relics.
(5) Strengthen exchanges and cooperation between geoparks at home and abroad, inside and outside the province. Geological relics resources are the common wealth of the world, so the Huguan Canyon National Geopark should be built into a tourism geological exchange center for the whole province and even the whole country, and experts and scholars from inside and outside the province and at home and abroad should be invited to the park for inspection and guidance. At the same time, it is also necessary to provide certain convenient conditions for colleges and universities to build the Huguan Canyon Geopark into a teaching and scientific research practice base.
3.2.2 Protective Measures
In the mainland, the current protection measures for geological relics are mainly in the following five ways: institutional protection, publicity protection, monitoring protection, prompt protection and engineering protection.
(1) Strengthen the management of geological relics and formulate detailed rules for the protection and management of geological relics in parks. The Management Office of the Geopark shall, with reference to the "Regulations on the Management of the Protection of Geological Relics" issued by the Ministry of Geology and Mines in situ and the "Regulations on the Management of Paleontological Fossils" issued by the State Council, formulate a management system for the protection of geological relics in the park, which shall be promulgated by the local government. Issued by the park management department to each scenic spot, each scenic spot is responsible for implementation.
(2) Strengthen the popularization of geological science and improve the public's cognitive ability of the park's geological relics. Guided by the concept of sustainable development, strengthen the indoctrination function of science popularization. Based on school education, the basic common sense of the growth, development and evolution of the earth will be infiltrated from the teaching activities of primary and secondary schools little by little, so as to fundamentally improve the basic quality of the people. Supplemented by social education, the knowledge of the Geopark is disseminated through the media, the Internet, newspapers, magazines, signage, etc.
(3) Strengthen the supervision and inspection of geological relics and establish a monitoring system for the protection of geological relics. Park management departments should strengthen the protection and management of geological relics, establish geological relics protection areas in a timely manner and in accordance with the law, and carry out inspection, guidance, and supervision of the protection of geological relics. At the same time, the park management unit should organize professionals to regularly monitor the resources of geological relics and publish the monitoring information on the Geopark network [8].
(4) Implement engineering protection for endangered geological relics. For some typical geological relics located on the core routes of scenic spots, engineering protection should be implemented. Including the construction of protective pavilions, protective fences, overhead trails, cliff boardwalks and other projects.
4 Concluding Remarks
Geological heritage is the common wealth of mankind. As an important material and spiritual resource, geological relics are more obligated to protect and inherit while enjoying them, which is also a requirement of the concept of sustainable development. Huguan Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon is the fourth batch of national geoparks approved by the Ministry of Land and Resources, in the process of developing and building geoparks, we should draw on the successful experience of both inside and outside the province and at home and abroad, and truly realize the effective protection and sustainable development of geological relics, and the coordinated development of economic benefits and environment friendliness.