- 1Petroleum Studies Unit, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago (christiecarr102@outlook.com)
- 2Petroleum Studies Unit, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago (anastasia.baboolal@sta.uwi.edu)
The Gaspar Grande Cave is the only cave in Trinidad, an island in the Caribbean that is adapted to safely host visitors, making it a unique natural phenomenon to the country. Located 12km west of Port of Spain, the Gaspar Grande Cave is known for its aesthetic, scientific and historical value amongst local and international visitors, as guided tours are used to highlight its geological features. The cave contains a variety of geological formations, notably, speleothems, skylights and a cave pool. These geological features not only represent invaluable geological heritage but also serve as crucial records of the region’s climatic and environmental history. These geological formations face serious conservation challenges due to factors such as vandalism, natural erosion, anthropogenic pressure and climate change.
The Gaspar Grande Cave is composed of Lower Cretaceous limestone, that is undergoing degradation due to intrusion of saltwater into the cave and dissolution of the cave roof through precipitation. The cave has skylights and several sinkholes in close proximity to the cave that highlight the delicate balance due to infrastructure construction, unsupervised human activity and climate change.
To address some of these challenges the cave managed by the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA) and the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago have introduced several conservation actions. These include restrictive access measures to the cave to minimize direct human intervention and the creation of controlled pathways to protect the most vulnerable zones. Additionally, to improve on emphasizing the importance of geoheritage and geoconservation to locals and tourists we propose conducting a validated questionnaire to CDA tour visitors over the age of 18. This study will investigate knowledge, attitudes and practices towards geoheritage, geoconservation and geology at the Gaspar Grande Cave. Outcomes of which are well positioned to make significant contributions to UNESCO’s sustainable development goals (SDGs). Findings here may promote economic growth (SDG 1 and 8) and sustainability (SDG 11 and 15) as well as improve quality of education amongst visitors (SDG 4).
Alongside this, we have put forth future studies to incorporate scientific characterization of geological formations within the cave utilizing advanced technologies such as, electrical resistivity tomography and proxy-driven paleoclimate research (SDG 13).
Together, these actions aim to preserve the geological formations, and also promote a sustainable visitor model that values geoheritage and geoconservation of the Gaspar Grande Cave. This abstract integrates the issues and conservation strategies for the Gaspar Grande Cave, highlighting the geoheritage and geoconservation, and the outcomes for its preservation.
Keywords: Gaspar Grande Cave, geoconservation, geoheritage, sustainability, Trinidad
How to cite: Carr, C. and Baboolal, A.: Geoheritage and Geoconservation Strategies at the Gaspar Grande Cave, North-Western Trinidad, West Indies, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-7151, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-7151, 2025.
