11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
[G05-P03] Adding Geoscientific Value though the Creation of a Geopark Guide Manual
Keywords:geopark guide, geodivercsty, Ainu cultural, Mt. Apoi
During the Eocene epoch, the Eurasian plate and the North American plate collided with each other (Kimura, 1996; Arita et al., 1993). This event caused the Pacific plate to sink while the North American plate forced the Kuril Arc to the west during the early Micoene epoch, and eventually formed the Hidaka Mountains. It is said that Mt. Apoi originated in the upper mantle approximately 50-60 km underground (Niida, 1999), and became exposed on the surface of the earth around 13 million years ago (Miyasaka et al., 1986). Additionally, as the Sea of Japan expanded (Furukata et al., 2010), that movement formed oddly shaped rocks along the Samani coastline, and there are many oral traditions from the indigenous Ainu people connected to these rocks (Ohno, 2016).
Thirty-five sites have been established within Mt. Apoi Geopark, and most of them were founded by geologists about 10 years ago. Some of these sites became problematic since residents are unfamiliar with them and it is difficult to understand the merit of others (Tsumagari, 2022). For this reason, we established a Guide Manual Creation Group under the Education & Popularization Subcommittee within the Samani Mt. Apoi Promotion Council. This group will review all of the designated sites in order to create a Geopark Guide Manual during the winter of 2022. Workshops are being held for Geopark guides, guide candidates, and the council members to discuss what should be included in the manual for each site. After the snow melts, we intend to have the guides practice their skills on-site while verifying the information with our academic advisor. This initiative started with the geopark guides hoping to improve and enjoy their work even more over the next 10 years (Tsumagari, 2022).
In this presentation, I will introduce examples of representative sites highlighted in this project. We hope to hear your opinions regarding the possibilities of reorganizing how the sites are configured and finding new value to the relationship between geoscientific features, nature, and culture. We would also like to know your thoughts on turning this guide manual creation into a personnel training exercise, and on expanding its use in the area.
References
[1]Arita et al., 1993 [2]Furukata et al., 2010 [3]Kimura, 1996 [4]Miyasaka et al., 1986 [5]Niida, 1999 [6]Tsumagari, 2022 [7]Ohno, 2016