Addressing indicators for geoheritage monitoring based on degradation risk and scientific value quantitative assessment
Authors: S Canesin Thais , Pereira Paulo , Vegas Juana , Selmi Lidia , Coratza Paola , Santos Vanda 
Published: March 2021

&lt;p&gt;Keywords: monitoring, criteria, degradation, geoheritage, Vale de Meios, Portugal&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Monitoring is one of the main stages in geoconservation strategies, essential to guarantee&lt;br&gt;geoheritage sustainability. Nevertheless, few studies focus on geoheritage monitoring techniques&lt;br&gt;and methods, unlike the multitude of works focusing on procedures to inventory and assess the&lt;br&gt;value of geosites. Moreover, criteria used in these methods can be applied on monitoring&lt;br&gt;procedures, specifically those supporting degradation risk and scientific value quantitative&lt;br&gt;assessments. In this context, a geoheritage monitoring model is being applied in Vale de Meios&lt;br&gt;(Alcanede, Portugal), an abandoned limestone quarry with well-preserved Middle Jurassic&lt;br&gt;Theropod footprints, inside the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park. This geosite was&lt;br&gt;previously assessed for its scientific value and vulnerability and it is included in the Portuguese&lt;br&gt;inventory of geoheritage with national and international relevance. A set of &amp;#8220;scientific value&amp;#8221; and&lt;br&gt;&amp;#8220;degradation risk/vulnerability&amp;#8221; criteria were reviewed to assess the degradation of the geosite&lt;br&gt;and used to identify the most suitable monitoring model. The &amp;#8220;integrity&amp;#8221; criterium used in most&lt;br&gt;methods to assess the scientific value of geosites, also credited as &amp;#8220;conservation status&amp;#8221;, is strictly&lt;br&gt;connected with the deterioration of the geoheritage elements in the past and present, while&lt;br&gt;degradation risk is normally referring to the threats and potential losses in the future. Fourteen&lt;br&gt;&amp;#8220;degradation risk&amp;#8221; assessment sub-criteria (intrinsic active processes, deterioration of geological&lt;br&gt;elements, size, extrinsic active processes, proximity to active processes, economic potential,&lt;br&gt;collectible elements potential, protection status, proximity to human activities, accessibility,&lt;br&gt;population density, visitor facilities, degradation by public use, and visitation control) can be&lt;br&gt;distributed by the main criteria fragility, natural vulnerability, anthropic vulnerability, and public&lt;br&gt;use. A detailed analysis of the criteria and the specific characteristics of each geosite support the&lt;br&gt;definition of suitable monitoring indicators. In the Vale de Meios geosite, monitoring actions&lt;br&gt;should primarily consider: active natural process, deterioration of geological elements,&lt;br&gt;accessibility, visitor facilities, degradation by public use, and visitation control in order to define&lt;br&gt;the monitoring indicators. An analysis of the conservation status over the past decades has been&lt;br&gt;carried out, using time indicators of deterioration. Long-term monitoring results will provide more&lt;br&gt;data about the geoheritage degradation though partial data show that in Vale de Meios the main&lt;br&gt;concern is related with the high natural vulnerability of the Theropod footprints, which are&lt;br&gt;exposed to natural erosion. Despite the protection status of the area and design of a plan for&lt;br&gt;visitation control measures, conservation procedures should prioritize physical protection&lt;br&gt;initiatives in the geosite management strategies.&lt;/p&gt;