Bridging the gap between intangible science and society through geoheritage

The realm of science and its outcomes is frequently perceived as esoteric by individuals outside the scientific field. This perception largely stems from the presentation of results, as scientists often convey their findings in a refined manner using strong technical terminology. However, this approach can be challenging for individuals with diverse backgrounds, both within and outside the scientific field. The absence of comprehension isolates such scientific work from our everyday life experiences, resulting in limited applicability and utilization of its findings. Hence, it is crucial to discover means of conveying research and findings in a more accessible and engaging manner. Achieving this can foster greater societal involvement in research, promoting participatory science—an integral yet often undervalued scientific endeavour.

Geoheritage bridges geoscience and society, facilitating the accessible communication of geoscientific results. In our study, we create three levels of simple and clear explanations (doing, seeing and theory) to illustrate one of the most useful techniques in studying the rock-forming process, AMS (Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility), to all based on their background. AMS is an extremely useful technique with diverse applications, including identifying strain and flow sense in rocks. We studied three distinct volcanic settings serving different visitor contexts—wild trekkers, beach visitors, and walkers and created an inventory that includes both tangible geological features of outcrops and intangible elements (AMS results). The M-GAM technique enabled us to create a comprehensive geoheritage inventory and to identify the most likely candidates for presenting these results effectively to the community, ensuring an optimal strategy for subsequent outreach and interaction with both tourists and locals. This method could be useful for studies involving a wider public, using their input in the simple explanations stage to con-construct a narrative that can then be consolidated with the inventory alongside the science.