Characterization and Quantification of Outcrops Exposed Along the Karakoram Highway (KKH) and Part of Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP), North Pakistan; Implications for Geoheritage Assessments and Geosite Recognition

• Published in: Geoheritage 2024-12, Vol.16 (4), Article 107
• Main Authors: Yaseen, Muhammad, Ahmad, Jawad, Anjum, Muhammad Naveed, Naseem, Abbas Ali, Shah, Syed Tanvir
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biogeosciences; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Fieldwork; Geoheritage; Historical Geology; Landscape/Regional and Urban Planning; Literature reviews; Lithology; Mineralogy; National parks; Original Article; Paleontology; Physical Geography
• ISSN: 1867-2477; 1867-2485
• DOI: 10.1007/s12371-024-00991-5

For a preliminary geoheritage assessment, we conducted the first detailed characterization and quantification of outcrops exposed along the Karakoram Highway (KKH) and parts of Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP). This assessment was based on multiple pieces of evidence, including a detailed literature review, fieldwork, the lithology of the selected rocks exposed along the traverses, and the potential for geoconservation. These are the types of geosites we've come up with: complex geosites (CGs), economic geosites (EGs), geomorphological geosites (GGs), tectonic geosites (TGs), geo-tourism geosites (GTs), and geo-archaeological geosites (GAs). In line with this, we implement the modified model of Ghosh (2021) to assess and quantify GS1–GS13. Five important criteria, i.e., scientific (intrinsic) values (SV), educational values (EV), economical values (EcV), geoconservation values (GVs), and added (cultural, ecological, and aesthetic) values (AAV), of Ghosh are considered. The result reveals that all thirteen proposed geosites (GS1–GS13) have acquired more than 50% of their total assigned values, except geoconservation values (GVs), which stand at the lowest in all the geosites. All geosites exhibit outstanding scientific values (SV) with an average score of 83.7%, securing the highest score in the evaluation, as demonstrated by the spider and related histogram representation. When it comes to EV values, also known as "educational values," all geosites achieve values greater than 50%, with an average value of 62.5, indicating high EV values. All other values, like Total EcV and Total AAV, hold about 50%, which signifies that the sites are perfect for these indicators. In the same way, the total GVs show that 37.5% have the lowest values. This is likely because there is a high risk of degradation (both natural and human) at or near the site, which can damage the geosites and make the site less stable due to natural or human impact.