Geological Hazards and Heritage Safeguard

Dear Colleagues,

Geological hazards operate on various time and spatial scales, from very quick to geological times and from outcrop to terrain scales. Within a geoenvironment, various geoheritage sites can be located with various significance levels, from local to global. Such geological heritage sites are often located within diverse geological hazard zones; hence, their existence is under various levels of hazard susceptibility. To establish the level of risk to which a specific geological heritage site is exposed requires complex multidisciplinary studies. Such research is currently in its infancy; hence, a call for experts working in this field is timely. In addition, there are a large number of geological heritage sites that are fundamentally recognized on the basis of specific geological hazards associated with their formation. Such geological hazard sites often form an important asset of geological knowledge, not only keeping our society’s memory awake to awareness of those events but acting as good geoeducational properties from which future generations can learn what to expect if such events occur in the future. The complex architecture and interlink between geological hazard research and geological heritage is a recent advance in the approach to developing resilient society against the diverse array of geological hazards. Such transdisciplinary research is also in its initial stage, and in this volume, research report submissions from this subject area are expected to be collected. Also, geological hazards are the basis for the assessment of the risk human society is exposed to The risk increases due to human population growth and a larger fraction of the society occupying areas of significant geohazards. This is typically the research subject of natural risk analysis research. Such risk studies naturally focus on human life preservation, but significant cultural heritage sites are located within geohazard zones. Globally significant cultural heritage sites can be dramatically affected by geohazards, often causing significant damage to them. Past geological events in significant hazard zones like volcanic eruptions or earthquakes are also often the underlaying features of a specific cultural heritage site that was formed or even preserved and is now admired, providing cultural heritage sites for protected areas, including UNESCO World Heritage Sites. A call for research outputs to explore the impact of geological hazards on existing cultural heritage sites or research exploring the role of past geological events in generating cultural heritage sites are border area research fields that are rarely fully explored. This Special Issue invites contributions from the above-outlined aspects of the interlinkages between geohazards and heritage, including their geological and cultural parts.

We are pleased to invite you to submit your research in the subject areas exploring the connection between geological hazards and various aspects of heritage, including the abiotic nature geoheritage or the human society cultural heritage. As this typical borderline research subject rarely fits into a common classification box, this Special Issue intends to accommodate these crossdisciplinary research issues and expects such research outputs to be submitted. This research area is clearly an increasingly important subject area as growing human society is increasingly exposed to diverse geohazards.

This Special Issue aims to offer the visibility of a typical transborder research subject to demonstrate the diversity of research combining geohazard studies and heritage. Submissions can include geohazard studies where specific geohazards are identified as the main cause of various geoheritage elements or the features considered as heritage sites associated with the complex evolution of human society. This issue also calls for contributions where the research outlines the way various geohazards can impact geoheritage and/or cultural geoheritage sites. Studies that include the applied aspect of this problem are also welcomed as geohazard mitigation within specific protected areas, both in abiotic or cultural property, that can provide knowledge for site management regardless of whether they are abiotic or culturally important locations. Both theoretical and case studies are expected here in the field of exploring the potential usage of geoheritage for geohazard resilience, particularly when cultural settings are included in the geoeducation programs, such as earthquake damage on ancient archaeological or built environments that can be linked to natural hazard processes easily. This Special Issue is intended to be transdisciplinary without being restricted to specific science subject areas.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

1. Research results on the conceptual framework of geohazards and the broad array of heritage from geoheritage to cultural heritage.
2. Case studies of specific rapid geohazards such as, for instance, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and gravity flows and their impact on the broad range of heritage.
3. Case studies of specific slow geohazards such as, for instance, slow ground motions (subsidence and rise), ongoing geothermal activity, sea level changes, and glacial retreat, and their impact on the broad range of heritage.
4. Geohazards as significant geoheritage site features (e.g., identification of geoheritage sites formed and based on specific geohazard types).
5. Geohazards as part of our cultural heritage, including art forms, spiritual aspects, or traditions.
6. Research on how geohazards manifest in indigenous cultures.
7. Research on how various geohazards could impact cultural heritage sites.
8. Research on geohazards in risk mitigation in cultural heritage sites, including estimations of the potential impact of specific hazard types on the cultural heritage assets.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Károly Németh
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• geohazard
• natural hazard
• risk
• geoheritage
• geopark
• geosite
• geodiversity
• cultural heritage
• indigenous
• protection