Researching the geoheritage potential of Baskil district (Elazig)

Natural formations that carry the 4.6 billion years of history of the world to the present day and give us information about the formation process of the world are referred to as geoheritage. Geoheritages, which are present-day evidence of the formation processes of the world, should be identified and protected and should not be kept separate from cultural-archaeological heritage. Baskil district, chosen as the study area, is located in the eastern part of the Taurus orogenic belt and has been heavily affected by paleotectonic and neotectonic movements. Due to these interactions, geological and geomorphological diversity has occurred in the area. The geological, geomorphological, cultural and historical diversity in Baskil district has increased the geoheritage potential in the study area. The main problem of the study is that no geoheritage identification studies were carried out in Baskil district and the existing formations were not evaluated within the scope of geotourism. Within the framework of this main problem, it is aimed to identify the geosites in the field and to ensure that they are brought into geotourism. For this purpose, through field studies carried out on different dates, a total of 44 geosites were identified in Baskil district, which has a surface area of 1318 km2, including 20 geological-geomorphological geosites, 12 geo-archaeological geosites, 9 historical and cultural geosites, and 3 other geosites. The detected geosites are the most typical of the study area and are of educational and scientific importance. As a result, it has been revealed that Baskil district, which is considered as the study area, has high geoheritage potential and has various destinations to be evaluated within the scope of geotourism. It is thought that this thesis study will contribute to the protection of the geoheritage values of Baskil district and to bring these geoheritages to geotourism.