Geomorphological landscapes of the M’Goun Geopark (Morocco): potential for geotourism and local guides’ perspective

In geoparks, the presence of “sites and landscapes of international geological significance” (UNESCO definition) is a very favourable condition for the development of geotourism, but the existence of these sites alone does not guarantee that people will visit them and discover their geological or geomorphological qualities. To convey an understandable and coherent message to the audience, interpretation is essential. The geoscientific interest of the geosites, generally recognised by the scientific community, indeed must be shown and explained to the visitors. But explaining geology or geomorphology to a lay public is not always easy, the manner of interpreting depends on the target audience and the messages the interpreter wishes to convey should be related to a selection of specific sites or themes.

Based on examples from the M’Goun Global Geopark located in the central High Atlas (Morocco), we propose a discussion on the geotourism potential of geomorphological landscapes with two specific questions:

(1) how to select sites according to their didactic potential?

(2) what is the point of view of the local guides regarding the interest of the sites and interpretation?

Geomorphological landscapes – defined as landscapes whose geomorphological component is of heritage interest (Bussard & Reynard, 2022) – are interesting supports for the dissemination of scientific knowledge in geomorphology. Their didactic potential indicates the degree of relevance or ease with which the site can be integrated into an interpretation process relating to one or more defined themes (Bussard et al., 2022). We describe the didactic potential of 8 geomorphological landscapes of the M’Goun Global Geopark (Bussard, 2022) and a selection of specific themes according to two criteria: visibility (clear view of the object) and level of complexity (number of objects, complexity of processes). The description of these criteria allows the managers of the sites to build an interpretation plan based on a coherent selection of sites and themes adapted to the target audience.

After this analysis through the lens of geomorphology, we conducted a series of interviews with professional guides working in the area to better understand their views on the interpretation of geomorphological sites. As they have a privileged contact with many visitors, guides play a key role in the transmission of knowledge on local and regional geomorphology. The interviews show that the concepts specific to geomorphology and geology are often unfamiliar to the guides, but that there is a genuine interest on their part in these subjects, particularly in palaeontology (the geopark contains numerous traces and bones of dinosaurs) and geomorphology, through the reading of the landscapes and their morphogenesis.

 

References

Bussard, J. (2022). Paysages géomorphologiques du Géoparc du M’Goun (Maroc) : Fiches descriptives. Institut de géographie et durabilité, Université de Lausanne. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7181982

Bussard J., Reynard E. (2022). Heritage value and stakeholders’ perception of four geomorphological landscapes in Southern Iceland. Geoheritage, 14, article 89. DOI: 10.1007/s12371-022-00722-8

Bussard J., Martin S., Monbaron M., Reynard E., & El Khalki Y. (2022). Les paysages géomorphologiques du Haut Atlas central (Maroc) : Potentiel éducatif et éléments pour la médiation scientifique. Géomorphologie : Relief, processus, environnement. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/geomorphologie/17103