Assessment of geoheritage and prospects of geotourism: An approach to geoconservation of important geological and geomorphological sites of Puruliya district, West Bengal, India

Exploration of geoheritage sites is a new venture in tourism studies. The objective of the study is centred around the Geoheritage site conservation for geological and geomorphological interpretation and introduction of Geotourism involving the local people in Puruliya district. The main litho-unit of Puruliya district belongs to Chhotanagpur Granite Gneissic Complex of Archean era. Nine geological/geomorphological important sites are chosen for assessing their geoheritage values and analysing the Geotourism potential. A modified model of Kubalikova (2013) is adopted for the evaluation of the selected nine important sites, where five important criteria i.e. scientific (intrinsic) values, educational values, economical values, conservation values and added (cultural, ecological and aesthetic) values are considered. The result reveals that sites like Durgabera dam, Bhanratongri hill, Garpanchakot and Jaychandi hill can be assumed as top potential Geotourism site occupying highest geoheritage values, whereas Jabar hill, Poradih hill and Tamakhun old mine are quite low in the context of Geoheritage values. Based on the result, few strategies are suggested which can help to develop Geotourism in the study area and raise awareness about the geoheritage values among the students, general visitors and the local residents of the area