Ireland should exploit its potential for geological tourism by developing "Geoparks" where geology's importance to society can be explained, a conference in Dublin next week will hear. Dick Ahlstrom reports
This island's unique geology could become an important selling point for tourists and moves are underway to exploit this potential. Two "Geoparks" have already been opened and access works to open up a third featuring 400-million-year-old amphibian footprints in Co Kerry is about to begin.
The whole philosophy of Geoparks is using the geological resource locally as an opportunity for sustainable tourism and economic development," explains Dr Matthew Parkes of the Geological Survey of Ireland. Parkes is the geologist appointed by the survey to the Irish Geological Heritage Programme, which is seeking to develop the idea of Geoparks.
"A lot of these places are important because of the geology and they should be recognised as important," he says. A case in point is the internationally significant "trackway" discovered on Valentia Island, a sequence of footprints left behind by a long extinct creature millions of years ago.
In 1992, a Swiss geology student on a visit to Kerry made the find, identifying more than 150 footprints made by a "Tetrapod" a four-legged amphibian that evolved from fish ancestors. The creature came ashore at Dohilla between 350 and 370 million years ago during the Devonian period.
It left behind the prints, plus tail and body markings, in what was then mud and has since become rock. The prints are among the oldest yet found and their spread allowed scientists to estimate the creature's size at about a metre long.
"We felt it was such an important site, but the legislation wasn't there to protect it," says Parkes. Dúchas bought the entire site on behalf of the Government and will soon announce the beginning of development work there, allowing it to be opened for public viewing.
The trackway lies on a rock platform above the high tide mark but within the splash zone, making access slippery and dangerous. Dúchas will build an access path and railings on an outcrop of rock just above the trackway, the beginnings of the third Geopark on this island.
The Royal Irish Academy, together with the Geological Survey of Ireland, has organised an international conference on the Geopark concept and its potential. Entitled "Natural and Cultural Landscapes: The Geological Foundation" and to be opened by poet Seamus Heaney, it runs next week from September 9th to 11th and features more than 45 speakers from Ireland and abroad.
Parkes's role as a heritage geologist is to identify the most important geological areas for protection. "It is about sticking a flag on and saying this is important for all of us, not just for academic geologists," he says.
The Geopark idea was first promoted by UNESCO, but was slow to take off. States including Germany, France, Greece and Austria developed sites and the survey lobbied for some years for a similar approach here, says Parkes. Two have since opened on this island, the Copper Coast in Co Waterford near Tramore and the Cuilcagh "Marble Arch" cave complex in Florencecourt, Co Fermanagh.
The Copper Coast is an exposed area of volcanic rocks laid down 450 million years ago where early settlers here mined for copper ore. Cuilcagh is a sandstone-capped plateau with underlying limestone in which caves have developed, much the same as in the Burren, Co Clare, he explains.
Important geological sites are often on private lands, so agreement is necessary with landowners. Locals too "have to be part of the equation", says Parkes, as it is in their interests to protect important sites and also benefit from their existence. "So a lot of it is about awareness and education rather than a restrictive programme of what you can't do."
He expects only a handful of important sites with historic connections to be selected as Geoparks.
He suggests Valentia Island, both for the trackway and its early slate mining, Castlecomber, Co Kilkenny and Arigna, Co Leitrim, for coal mining and the old Glengowla lead and zinc mines near Oughtarard, Co Galway.
The Aran islands might also be designated. "They are a discrete entity" in geological terms, he says.
"It is not simply a matter of geoparks," he adds. "If you go to the Cliffs of Moher there is no geology discussed there, but it is striking to see."
More information about the conference is available at www.ria.ie/committees/geogcons.htm or www.gsi.ie