Iraqi Geological Journal

Abstract


Introduction
Geotourismhas become a great economic resource of many countries. The development of this field is related to government interest and creating the infrastructure, which is brought back to it with a large investment content and supporting economic sources. There are many types of tourism, which are religious, historical, cultural tourism and others. Geopark may brings together all these types as well, Geotourism includes geological aspects such as folds, faults, the inclination of layers, geomorphological features, valleys, slopes and lithological varieties, which is a unified region as a geological heritage of international importance (Patrick and Nicolas, 2005). Iraq is one of the countries with large tourism requirements and properties and can be a major economic resource. The area that can be used as Geopark must contain major geological features so that these milestones can be developed and sustained and provide appropriate protection as geoparks. the study area is located in the central and northern of Makhul and Khanoga anticline and eight sites have been selected from Makhul dam (under construction) in the south to Ashur castle in the north, and an area of 1558 km 2 in Salah Al-Din province in Midddle of Iraq as in Fig. 1. The geology of the study area has great importance in the Geopark, especially the Stratigraphy, Structural, geomorphology and the changes affecting it, and the study of these geological elements is as much about these aspects as tourist attractions. The age of the exposed rocks for the study area is ranged from Middle Miocene to Recent and represented by Fatha and Injana formations as well as Quaternary deposits (Jassim and Goff, 2006;Al-Juboury and McCann, 2008). There are many Geopark studies in the world (Ramsey, 2017) and in Iraq there are descriptive studies, such as (Sultan, 2020) whose studied the area of Jabal Sanam(South of Iraq). The justification of the study are that the area contains the main requirements of Geopark and geodiversity and (Hussain, 2022) studied Geodiversity of Smaquli area(Northeastern Iraq) as a potential geopark in Kurdistan regionin addition to some study on geodiversity such as: (Mohammad andAl-Zubaidi, 2014, 2017 ;Al-Zubaidi et al., 2014 and2017) The weakness in managing and employing the natural geological resources in the area for tourist attractions, identify the characteristics and criteria and a differentiation between these sites until they are prepared as a database for investment in tourist attractions are another justifications. This study aims to identify the elements of geoparks in the study area and evaluate the selected geopark sites.

Materials and Methods
Eight geosites were selected along the area between Makhul Mountain and the Tigris River the motive for selecting these sites so that the different geological features of structural origin represented by the folds, which contain geological manifestations of tourist attraction, and between the Tigris River, which combines geomorphological phenomena of river origin, are combined with the cultural heritage of the people of the region, in each geosite station three variables were combined: Geology and geomorphology of structural origin and cultural heritage of the region. After collecting information, the Geosite Assessment Model (GAM) model and Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis were selected as statistical tools for calibration and differentiation between geosites.

GAM
The research methodology was based on the GAM model developed by Vujii et al. (2011) to analyze geological sites. This model is comprised of two types of values main values and supplementary values, with a number of sub-values and a score for each value.

Main Value
Core values are referred to as natural values and consist of a set of sub-values, as shown in Table  1. These sub-values include Scientific/educational values, scenic/aesthetic values, and protection values.
Scientific/ educational value (VSE) : 1 • Rarity: the number of sites that are most similar.
• Representative: The site is pedagogical and exemplary bwcause of inherent quality and general layout (Perreira, 2007). • Scientific Knowledge Number of articles published in peer-reviewed journals, theses, and other publications demonstrating familiarity with geoscientific issues. • Level of interpretive possibilities for geological and geomorphologic processes, phenomena, and landforms, and level of scientific understanding. • 2: Scenic/aesthetic value (VSA)2: • Viewpoints: The number of vantage points accessible by footpath. Each must offer a specific vantage point and be within one kilometer of the site. • Surface: The entirety of the site's surface Each site is evaluated quantitatively in comparison to other sites. • Surrounding landscape and nature: quality of panoramic view, presence of water and vegetation, absence of human-induced degradation, proximity to urban centers, etc. • Environmental compatibility of sites: level of contrast to nature, color contrast, shape appearance, etc. • : Protection value (VPr)3 • Current state: the current condition of the geosite. • Protection by local or regional groups, the federal government, and international organizations, etc.
• Vulnerability: Geosite vulnerability rating • Appropriate number of visitors: The proposed number of concurrent visitors based on the site's surface area, vulnerability, and current condition. The sum of the basic values is the sum of (scientific values + aesthetic values + protection values).

Additional values
are created by humans and include functional and tourism values.

Functional-Value
This function indirectly promotes tourism development because it reflects numerous criteria such as: • Accessibility: The means of approaching the site.
• Additional natural values: number of additional natural values within a 5-kilometer radius (geosites also included) • Additional anthropogenic values: the number of additional anthropogenic values within a 5kilometer radius. • The proximity of emissive centers. • Significant road network proximity: the proximity of significant road networks within a 20kilometer radius. • Additional functional values include parking lots, gas stations, auto repair shops, etc.

Tourism Value
• Promotion: Increase the number of promotional assets.
• Organized visits: The annual number of visits organized to the geosite.
• Vicinity of visitor's center: The proximity of the visitor center to the geosite.
• Interpretative panels: The interpretive qualities of text and graphics, the quality of the material, its size, its compatibility with the environment, etc. • Number of visits: annual visitors.
• Tourism infrastructure: Level of extra tourist infrastructure (pedestrian walkways, resting areas, garbage cans, restrooms, and springs, etc.). • Tour guide service: If available, competence level, foreign language proficiency, interpretive abilities, etc. • Hostelry service: Hostel service near to the geosite • Restaurant service: Restaurant service near to geosite.

SWOT
The SWOT analysis is a straightforward and useful evaluation approach. and it considers a variety of internal and external elements in addition to evaluating strengths and weaknesses. This combination of assessment metrics is very helpful for acquiring a full picture of a new business, product, brand, project, or early study of the life cycle of a project. Consider and identify the internal strengths and weaknesses of your research, as well as external opportunities and dangers that may impact you. This study was connected to percentages for each Geopark rectifier in each station so that stations could be compared. (Ip and Koo, 2004).

Analysis of the Results of the Field Study
To examine the prospects for Geopark in the research area region and to define and enhance the values to focus on, the above-mentioned model was applied and the procedures below were taken:

Inventory of Geological Sites
Based on the fieldwork of the study area, it was possible to identify the most important geological sites and the most suitable for geopark purposes as follows:

Al-Qusour, symbol S1
is located 60 km to the north of Tikrit city and is one of the amazing areas within the Makhul fold area, where it constitutes one of the largest areas containing geological diversity and natural geological landscapes.
Plate 1. Al-Qusour, (S1) shows the Interaction between geological heritage and the cultural heritage, the presence of the river and high topography.

Makhul Anticline, symbol S2
This station was chosen due to the presence of attractive beautiful geological diversity, as well as the presence of great color variation. In this area, the Fatha Formation in which fossils appear clearly, and this station is located at the highest peak of Makhul.

Al-Jabbar Castle, symbol S3
where Al-Jabbar Castle is located 4 km south of the village of Al-Mashak. It represents a very important site where most of the elements of the Geopark were gathered, as the construction of this castle dates back to the Parthian era (Al-Jarro, Jarjes, 2009).

Entrance to the village of Al-Nml
S5. This station is located 1 km south of the village of Ants. This station was chosen as a result of the presence of the beautiful landscape mixed with the unique geological manifestation. In this station, the fossils found in Fatha Formation can be seen clearly, in addition to the color change of the rocks.
Plate 5. Entrance to the village of Al-Nml (S5) (The color changes in the geological layers are very prominent in this station)

Tlail Station S6
It was chosen because of the presence of many elements of the enclaves, and the most important thing is that the cultural site of Tlail is found directly on the Tigris River and the presence of river islands as well.
Plate 6. Tlail Station (S6) shows there is a cultural heritage and the river)

The Firth Palace symbol S7
It contains many elements of geosite in this station as this station is located north of the village of Ant and south of the castle of Ashur and the Firth palace is located directly to the right of the river in addition to the presence of river islands and contrast in colors and high hills.

Ashur castle
Symbol S8 Ashur Castle is located north of Salah al-Din province, 120 km north of Tikrit City, and this station was chosen due to the presence of most of the geosite in this area.

Plate 8. Ashur Castle (S8) shows the archaeological castle of Ashur
The following table illustrates the application of GAM to the first station (S1) in the study area, in order to clarify the application of this model in the other stations in the study area, with a statement of the results of each station or location below this model.

First: Main values:
The basic values are referred to as the natural values, and they consist of a group of sub-values: they are scientific, educational, aesthetic, and protective values, as shown in Table  1.   Table 6 gives the overall evaluation and classification of geopark sites by GAM tourist site assessment model in the study area and shows the total key values of all sites in the following table.

Secondary values Main values
Through Table 6 where at the intersection of core values with additional values p the study area stations were applied to a matrix known as gam matrix and by point intersection each matrix fell into a certain range. (Hrnjak, 2018) Through Fig. 2, the fifth station, fell into the range Z21 signed three stations, namely the fourth, sixth and seventh station, but in the Z31 range the first and second stations occurred, but in the Z32 range occurred the third and eighth station, which indicates high values, whether main or additional, the range, the Z31 range refers to high base values and low additional values, while the Z21 range Refers to medium base values and low additional values and the matrix ends with the Z11 range, which refers to low base values and low additional values. Through this analysis, the trade-off between the stations raised each third, eighth and first and second stations.

SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis and (S) and (W) variables describe the internal environment where (S) strengths and (W) and weaknesses are represented. O and T are external environment variables, where (O) opportunities represent opportunities and (T) threats indicate threats (Al-Qatamin, 2002). SWOT analysis is a paradigm that aids public institutions, the government, and companies in identifying and defining their overall vision and purpose, as well as in establishing future objectives, by assessing their current reality and its relationship to and effect from external variables and forces. SWOT analysis can be defined as a task force process to identify factors of strength and weakness in the internal environment, opportunities and threats in the external environment that affect and determine the potential effectiveness of them, as well as contribute to the development of strategies, develop the strengths and opportunities available, and overcome vulnerabilities and threats (Abdul and Hussein, 2010). (2005, Meredith).
Internal Environment: By analyzing the internal environment is a detailed look to determine the level of performance, areas of strength and weakness (Idris and Al-Mursi, 2002).
External Environment: The analysis of the situation outside the study and its reflection on it positively in shaping these opportunities, and negatively in the formation of threats. (Idris and Morsi, 2002).

Strengths factors
• Beautiful geological manifestations such as high folds, rusts, color change, unique geomorphological aspects such as beautiful, varied and other valleys. • The presence of effects in most of the study areas.
• All selected stations are close to each other.
• Availability of land transport and roads covering 90% of the selected areas.

Weaknesses factors
• The lack of promotion of the chosen areas as a façade for the Geopark.
• The lack of investments in the study area.
• There is no staff from the tourist guides interested in Geopark.

2-External Environmental conditions
Opportunity factors • All study area stations are distinctive and has unique geological sites, meaning they are the areas of Geopark . • Using the areas of the study area in order to stimulate the tourism side by the concerned authorities.
• The concerned authorities in the Geopark must use these distinctive areas in order to stimulate tourism. • Work to achieve sustainable development in all selected areas.

Threat factors
• Unstable security conditions. • The lack of financial support . • Lack of interest by the concerned authorities .
• Lack of awareness of many people . • Lack of awareness by the concerned authorities about the natural capabilities in the country and the methods of exploitation.  Table 8, the SWOT analysis rates for fieldwork were taken separately at each station and the total of these ingredients is 100 %, and a specific criterion has been chosen. The appearances in the station or their lack of presence with a large number of its presence in another station.
As for the climate, all stations are equal in a steady and equal percentage, because the climate of the study area is the same, in addition to that the plant diversity was also equal values in all stations. As for the river, it extracts the percentage of the river in each station that depends on a dimension and the proximity of the distance to the river from this station. As for the effects, the comparison between the stations was on the basis of the existence and a large number of effects and their proximity to the selected station. When completing all percentages and all stations, the ratio collects each station in order to comply and calibrate with other stations .
When completing the collection of the lineage, the third station was the highest percentage, as it contained all the ingredients for the geopark, while the eighth station was less than the third station and higher than all other stations. This also corresponds to the GAM classification, which was on the eighth and third station, is the highest.

Conclusions
• Through the evaluation of the geosite stations on GAM model and the comparison between them and the intersection of these values on GAM MATRIX, it is found that the stations are all suitable as geopark and each of them has a certain percentage . • The study area possesses most of the ingredients of Geopark specified by UNESCO (geological aspects, climate, roads, biodiversity, water, cultural and cultural heritage). • The results are compatible between GAM classification and SWOT analysis by raising the highest values of the third and eighth station. • The main values of the GAM classifications for the study area geosites are high, and this is evidence that they are suitable as a geopark, and in some of them, secondary values are low and can be raised by the investor. • The additional values were low in each of the study area stations, the first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, and this attributes to the lack of tourism services and the shortage.