Evaluation of geoheritage for development of geotourism in Takab area, Northwest of Iran

In 21st century, geologists of the developed countries paid special attention to the usage of criteria for evaluation of geodiversity and introduction of the country’s geoheritage to conserve this valuable heritage and its usage in sustainable way. Conservation and utilization of geoheritage or mining heritage is carried out in the framework of introducing a national or global region as geopark. Geopark is an under protection area that in addition to the geosite richness contains historical, cultural, and natural (ecosites) places. Making use of efficient management and proper training of local people and emphasizing on recreational teaching of geological and environmental concepts, it can attract tourists to fill their time through interpretation of all attractions in a way that this measurements cause improvement in economic-social situation of the local people as well as all people in the country. The study area is located around the world heritage site, namely Takht-e-Soleiman in the northwest of Iran that is rich geodiversity, biodiversity and historical-cultural diversity points of view. However, the study area is economically poor. Accordingly, establishment of a geopark in the region can increase job creation, prevent immigration of villagers to the cities and flourish economic life of the region. In this study, two methods used for evaluation of criteria each of them includes some parameters and sub-parameters. Based on calculated scores for each site and making use of interpolation methods in GIS environment, the geopark territory and the best geotrail were ed.