Evaluation of geotourism capabilities of playa geomorphosites based on the modified Kamensko method (Case study of Yazd province)

Geomorphotourism is a tourist attraction based on the geomorphic systems on the ground, which has an extraordinary ability to attract tourists by creating attractive and beautiful landforms. One of the main goals of geomorphotourism is to educate and enjoy tourists from geomorphic phenomena, as well as to protect the natural environment and its landscapes in relation to not changing and avoiding human interference in disturbing the earth landscape. In fact, geomorphotourism is one of the fields of land studies and tourism studies that emphasizes the recognition of geomorphosites or special geomorphological landscapes. Thus, geomorphotourism can be defined as the study of geomorphosites or specific geomorphic landscapes that have scientific, ecological, cultural, aesthetic and economic values at the same time. According to this view, geomorphosites are geomorphological landforms that have acquired scientific, historical-cultural, aesthetic or socio-economic value due to human awareness and exploitation. These sites have a variety of landforms that are created by the interaction of internal and external factors of the earth over time in a specific territory and play an important role in understanding the long-standing geomorphological changes of a place. These sites are significantly different in terms of size and variety of geotourist attractions. From the point of view of diversity of geomorphic features in geosites, the concept of geodiversity is used, which means the diversity of geological and geomorphological features and is usually related to geoheritage elements such as geomorphosites and geomorphological elements and show an increasing attention to the effects of inanimate nature. Therefore, it is important and necessary in order to be aware of the geological heritage in the whole planet and to coordinate and adapt to the conservation approach, and since it includes numerous and diverse geological phenomena, it can indicate the structure and geological characteristic of a region and its geotouristic capabilities. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the playa geomorphosites and to acquaint the managers and planners of the tourism industry with the playa geomorphotourism attractions of Yazd province in order to pay more attention to the potential of these attractions in the tourism industry.

To prepare information about this research, field studies, library and documentary studies, as well as topographic maps (1,500,000), geology map (1: 100,000) and digital elevation map with a resolution of 30 meters of Yazd province were used. The combination of information obtained from the mentioned sources has determined the overall value of geosites in the study area. The modified Kamensko method has been used to evaluate the capabilities of geosites and higher value geosites that have more potential for geotourism development have been identified. Research on geomorphosite assessment methods in Iran shows that the best method for assessing geosites is the Kamensco method. Because this method uses several other methods such as Reynard, Pereira, Peralong, Coratza, Giusti, Bruschi, Cendrero, Zouros, Erhatic and Serrano evaluates geosites and puts more emphasis on the Managerial and aesthetic indices.

The Kamensko method was introduced by Kamensko in 2011 and is based on 5 values includes scientific, aesthetic, cultural, economic and managerial. Of course, the score of each value is based on several sub-criteria and is averaged. But since in this evaluation method, the emphasis is on managerial and aesthetic indicators, such as the attractiveness of each geosite for all age groups, creating a sense of calm for the tourist, the ability to play and entertainment for children and adolescents, and therapeutic features and medicine has not been paid attention. In the present study, some weaknesses in this method have been modified. Hence, the entertainment and attractiveness index has been added to the indicators provided by Kamensco, which include sub-criteria such as attractiveness for all age groups or for a specific age group, length of stay in these geosites, creating a sense of calm and relaxation, play and entertainment capabilities especially for children and adolescents and finally therapeutic and medical features. Due to the high importance of this index in the field of tourism, it has been given the highest score. Because the final composite index is based on the model and framework of the Kamensko, the same Kamensko scores are used, so that the score of each of the criteria assigned to the other indicators by Kamensko is reduced and dedicated the new index. In the present study, 15 significant playas, in Yazd province, have been studied and evaluated in terms of tourism capabilities in terms of size and features in them, including: Ardakan playa (Black Mountain playa), which is the most important playa in the region. It has located in the form of a horseshoe with a northwest, southeast direction in the northeast of Ardakan. The most famous playa of Yazd province is Abarkooh playa which is located in the form of a circle between two mountain ranges. Other playas of Yazd province are Saghand, Daranjir, Herat and Marvast, Bahadoran, Taghistan, Taq Siah, Abgir, Allahabad, Tal Hamid and Gorabkhor.

The results of the evaluations of playa's geomorphosites in Yazd province, based on the modified Kamenskoye model, show that among the 15 playas in the province, Bafgh playa with 76 points, had the highest score among them. After that, Ardakan playa with 68 points, Saghand playa with 62 points and Abarkooh desert with 57 points are in the next ranks. One of the most important features of these playa is the variety of geomorphic features and spatial suitable for activities and entertainment of different age groups from children and infants to adventurous youth and middle-aged people who can go to various activities such as hiking in the playa, walking on the sand dunes of the edge of playas, seeing various geomorphic landforms of the playas, seeing the surfaces of salt marshes, salty rivers, seeing clear skies and stars at night, relatively cool weather in hot seasons and things like camping, camel riding in the playa, Off-road vehicles, motorcycling and even cycling in the playa are among the other services and entertainments that can be considered for the deserts and attracting tourists.