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Geodiversity, Geoconservation and Sustainable Development in Qian’an National Geopark (Hebei, China)

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Abstract

Qian’an National Geopark locates in the southern Yanshan Mountain uplift belt. Active tectonics resulted in mineral enrichment, as well as geoheritages in this area. This includes one of the oldest metamorphic complex exposed in China. This study aims to investigate and protect local geoheritage, to develop geotourism and to contribute to sustainable development. According to the classification standards of geoheritage, we divided geoheritages in Qian’an National Geopark into 6 major categories, 10 categories and 12 subcategories based on extensive field surveys. There are well-preserved human and ecological resources, e.g. the Great Wall as a typical representative. By the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) evaluation, we assessed 20 geoheritage sites in Qian’an National Geopark, resulting in 1 world-class, 2 national-level, 11 regional-level and 6 local-level. Based on their scientific value and rarity, as well as local development planning, the geopark is divided into 3 classes conservation areas. With hierarchical conservation measures, geoheritages have been well protected, and awareness of ecological environment has been greatly improved. Geotourism has made outstanding contributions to local economy and promoted more sustainable development.

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Data Availability

The datasets used or analyses during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Pro. Fadong Wu and administration of Heibei Qian’an National Geopark, for providing the materials and beautiful pictures. Deep gratitude is also owed to the anonymous reviewers for reviewing the manuscript.

Funding

The study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (42101010), the Social Science Foundation of Hebei province (HB21YJ014), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei (D2019207092), and Specialized Scientific Research Funds of Great Wall Culture and Tourism Integration, Hebei University of Economics and Business (2023WLWT02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, Hebei GEO University, Shijiazhuang, 050031, China

    **uming Li

  2. The Geotourism and Rural Revitalization Research Base of Hebei Provincial Science and Technology Association Think Tank, Shijiazhuang, China

    **uming Li

  3. Research Center for Green Development of Great Wall Cultural Economic Belt, Hebei University of Economics and Business, Shijiazhuang, 050061, China

    Yanjie Wang

  4. School of Tourism, Hebei University of Economics and Business, Shijiazhuang, 050061, China

    Yanjie Wang

  5. **njiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China

    Wenru Jia

  6. School of Land Science and Space Planning, Hebei GEO University, Shijiazhuang, 050031, China

    Lihong Chen

  7. School of Earth Science and Resources, China University of Geoscience, Bei**g, 100083, China

    Fadong Wu

Authors
  1. **uming Li
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  2. Yanjie Wang
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  3. Wenru Jia
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  4. Lihong Chen
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  5. Fadong Wu
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Contributions

This work is completed with the collaboration of all authors. Dr. **uming Li developed the main concept of this word and drafted the manuscript. Dr. Yanjie Wang involved in writing the manuscript and supervised the study. Pro. Fadong Wu provided some materials and pictures of the study. Dr. Wenru Jia and Dr. Lihong Chen devoted in field work and helped in modification the writing.

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Correspondence to Yanjie Wang.

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Li, X., Wang, Y., Jia, W. et al. Geodiversity, Geoconservation and Sustainable Development in Qian’an National Geopark (Hebei, China). Geoheritage 16, 75 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-024-00984-4

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