The inventory of the geological heritage of Egypt is important for its efficient conservation and usage for
the purposes of science, education, and tourism. The field investigations in the KurkureDungul area in
southern Egypt have permitted to identify several unique geological features. Their type, rank, relative
abundance, and intrinsic diversity, as well as importance of the entire geological heritage of the study
area are investigated. Seven geological heritage types are distinguished, namely stratigraphical, sedimentary,
palaeogeographical, mineralogical, structural, geomorphological, and economical types. The
rank of the features belonging to the listed types ranges from local to global, and the relative abundance
and the intrinsic diversity range from low to high. The global rank is established for the sedimentary
type, which is determined by the wide distribution of palaeospring tufa deposits. The high relative
abundance and intrinsic diversity are established for the geomorphological type. The entire geological
heritage of the KurkureDungul area can be employed for diversification of the existing tourism programs
offered at the tourist destination of Aswan, as well as for geotourism development. A geopark can be
created in the KurkureDungul area for the better exploitation of its geological heritage. The combined
development of geological and industrial tourism seems to be possible. |
