Within this famous site, we can observe:
- Regionally unique Lochkovian volcanites,
- Pragian trilobite-rich crinoidal limestones.
- Lower Emsian (Zlíchovian) steep, cone-shaped mudmounds with coral-stabilized flanks.
- Hydrothermal hot vent communities and trilobite lumachelles filling neptunian dykes.
- Rapid upper Emsian burial and overlying, fossiliferous hemipelagic, hypoxic marls.
- Eifelian to Givetian goniatite limestones.
- Hypoxic lower Frasnian styliolinites and Upper Frasnian Kellwasser Facies with cephalopod mass occurrences.
- Lower Famennian radiation interval with rich cheiloceratid fauna.
- The Eifelian/Givetian HOLLARD Mound and its methane seep environments
More details on :
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324248737_The_world-famous_Devonian_mudmounds_at_Hamar_Laghdad_and_overlying_cephalopod-rich_strata
I believe you could turn to UNESCO, urging that the site be declared a World Heritage Site. I suggest to contact UNESCO Word Heritage Centre, 7, Place de Fontenoy, 75352 PARIS CEDEX 07 – France – phone +33 1 45682496 / [email protected] , and IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature rue Mauverney 28 CH-1196 Gland Switzerland phone: +41-22-9990001 Fax: +41-22-999 0010 E-Mail : [email protected]
Good luck! Mario
UNESCO World Heritage is a very good idea and would be absolutely adequate.
As far as I know, this involves that research is carried out every year (you can count me in there).
One would have to make sure that access for researchers is easy (maybe permits available via E-mail or directly in an office in Erfoud).
Controlling that place is difficult since it is too big.
There is not enough visitor traffic yet to install a guardian/ ranger permanently.
One could make a deal with one of the hotels such as Hotel Kasbah Said and install a ranger there. At the same time, this could be the official homebase for researchers AND the place to obtain permits.
In any case, this is one the MOST INTERESTING GEOLOGICAL SITES on our beautiful planet!
I look forward to the developments in Morocco!
Amicalement,
Christian.
Actually, there were serious plans to propose the Hamar Laghdad as a UNESCO World Heritage site:
Article Carbonate mounds: From paradox to World Heritage
(Henriet, J. P., et al. (2014). "Carbonate mounds: From paradox to World Heritage." Marine Geology 352: 89-110.)
I cannot tell where the plans are now though, because most unfortunately Jean-Pierre Henriet, the great proponent of the project, passed away last year...
Henriet et al. (2014: p. 103) introduced an excellent idea, namely to create a "mound Heritage Route in Morocco. The route segment circling the High Atlas encompasses outstanding examples of Paleozoic to Mesozoic
mound sites. The route segment centered on Gibraltar encompasses the Miocene Rifian and Betic Corridors, flanked by the offshore Pen Duick and Melilla mound sites, focus of oceanographic research".
This might be a good idea to present to UNESCO.
As it is known, the MAB UNESCO program implies the participation -even at decisional level -of both resident community and scientists community. I don't know the Henriet et al. project, however, I think that it implies also a well-planned ecotourists participation. This latter could be an interesting way of promoting (and partially funding) the project. Cheers to all. Mario
The good thing is that most of the mound-sites in Morocco lie in a stunningly beautiful landscape, so this would certainly foster Moroccan tourism as well!
At the beginning of next month (May) will take place the geological days of Morocco 2018 and it will be a great opportunity for me to ask the question publicly, in the presence of geologists and officials of the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Morocco. Of course I will focus on the importance of the site to be preserved (Hamar Lakhdad mud-mounds) and I hope to open not only the debate, but also to move towards the beginning of an approaching solution (at least I hope). I'll let you know.
Maybe you can mention that we are preparing a special volume dedicated to Hamar Laghdad....
One more detail: I am preparing a figure showing the diverse life at Hamar Laghdad. When are the geological days?
If I am done in time, I can give you the figure, Ahmed...
I think necessary to create a local commission including administration (Ministry of Energy and Mines) to look deeply for the protection of the Moroccan geological patrimony. The inventory of this heritage, in my opinion, is well advanced. So, we need to stand up a low for protection.
World Heritage sites are proposed by national governments, not individuals. The first necessity is for a formal inventory of geosites in Morocco, to show how this site is a key element in that inventory and the regional geological context. With no systematic listing, selections and suggestions are simply ad hoc and very difficult to substantiate. As Farah el Hassani says, a law for protection in the country is the primary requirement. No mention on an international list gives any practical or tangible protection. There must be local conservation and someone to enforce it.
- Badges
- Science method
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Ecology