Identification and Evaluation of Geomorphosites Based on Quantitative Parametric Methods and Scientific Quality (Case Study: Gilan Gharb County)

Geotourism is defined as a form of tourism, in which the geographical features of a place increase the environment, culture, cultural heritage and well-being of its inhabitants (Quartz et al. 2008, 106). Over the past years, the creation of geoparks and the development of geotourism have made geomorphosites a major feature of this type of tourism (Reynard et al. 2007, 150), Because geomorphological features are easily recognizable and are the most attractive non-living natural elements in the landscape (ARTUGYAN ؛ 2014, 92). The combination of geological features with different geographical conditions has led to the formation of glacial and proximal glacial evidence/pieces of evidence, types of karstic landforms and landforms caused by mass movements, water erosion, and sedimentation in Guilan city. Therefore, the city has a rich geomorphological heritage and some of these landforms have tourism potential due to their attractiveness and scientific importance and so far no study has been conducted to identify and evaluate the geomorphosites in this city. Understanding the capabilities of geotourism and identifying the geomorphosites of this city can play an important role in the economic prosperity of this deprived and border city. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate and identify the geomorphosites of Gilan Gharb city.

This study used descriptive-analytical methods to study the geological, geographical ,and geomorphological status of the study area and based on the criteria of scientific value, added value and value of use (Table 1), suitable landforms were selected as geomorphosites. During extensive field surveys in Gilan-e-Gharb township, 14 landforms with karstic, erosional, evidence/peices of evidence, domain and tectonic motions were selected to evaluate and identify the geomorphosites (Figure 2). Then based on quantitative parametric (QG) and scientific (Q) quality of selected landforms quantitative and numerical are evaluated and their ability to be introduced as geomorphosites is investigated. Finally, the results of the two models are evaluated based on Spearman correlation and the geomorphosites of Gilan-e-Gharb are evaluated.

In the present study, the Gilan-e Gharab, Zardarmar cave, ghalageh Poulet of karstic origin, the Guilin Canyon landforms, the G-shaped Govaver valley, the U-shaped Darvan ghala valley have the karstic origin and water erosion. Balaleh Comb, Mieh Khash gap, Tang Gaul waterfall, and Vijenan badlands are the result of the erosion of current waters cascades and landforms landslides are the result of mass movement activity. The Ghalejeh fault wall and the Gilan Gharb fault faults are of tectonic origin and the Ghaleh circus is the result of ice activity during the last cold period. According to the quantitative parametric method, the selected geomorphosites of Guilanbarg city had scores between 0.554 to 0.736 and the Guilin Canyon, Sarab Gilanbar and Tang Golem cascades had the highest scores respectively. In this study, 14 different landforms were selected for evaluation as geomorphosites. In both methods, the Guilin Canyon and the Sarab Gilan West have the first and second most valuable geomorphosites, respectively. And the Tang Gaulm Waterfall geomorphosite is both highly rated in both models. In both methods, high-rank and high-rank geomorphosites were similar but less overlapping in middle and lower rank geomorphosites (Table 9). To compare the results and determine the reliability of the methods used, the results of the two methods were compared. The similarity of the results of the two models based on the Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.54 and indicates a moderate and positive correlation between the two methods. The high geomorphosites of Guilin Canyon and Sarab Gillan West have the karstic origin, the narrow Golem cascade is the result of the activity of the current waters and the landslide is the result of mass movements.

 Based on the results of both models, the karstic geomorphosites of Guilin Canyon and Sarab Gilan Gharb are the most valuable geomorphosites. According to the quantitative parametric method, all geomorphosites score more than 0.50 and are capable of being presented as geomorphosites.But according to the semi-quantitative (scientific quality) method of Balaleh Camb , the Visjenan badlands, Ghalajeh Pole, and  Zardehmar Vertical Cave have a score of less than 0.50 and are not capable of being presented as geomorphosites. A comparison of the results of the two models based on Spearman's correlation coefficient has moderate overlap, which confirms the significant difference between the results of the two models. This is due to various reasons such as the diversity of genes in the selected landforms and the multiplicity of criteria in the quantitative method. Therefore, it can be said that the quantitative method has better performance than the semi-quantitative method (scientific quality) due to the variety of criteria and coverage of different aspects for evaluation of geomorphocytes and also lack of expert opinion. The results also show that the quantitative method can be used in different geomorphological environments. Finally, it can be said that the selected geomorphic sites of Gilan Gharb city are based on a quantitative method model with high to medium power in geotourism.