Criteria

Sub criteria

Potential geoheritage

Economic value

Potential geosites

Landscapes; rivers; lakes; swimming pool; waterfall; canyon; valley; domes; mountains; caves

Geosites for hiking and trekking

Gemstones

Sapphire, corundum

fossils

Vertebrate invertebrate and plants

Rocks

Eroded sandstone

Museum

Center of Isalo interpretation

Additional value

Aesthetic value

Landscapes

Eroded cliffs with strange shapes (Wolf, Queen…)

Landscapes panoramic view: wide monoclinal, tabular mountains; deep and short canyons; sandy domes; natural labyrinth of Isalo

Ecological value

Lakes

Natural and colorful lake (green)

Waterfall

Warm waterfall; waterfall bath; waterfall in the colorful water ( dark; turquoise)

Swimming pool

Natural and colorful swimming pool (black and blue)

Savanna

Endemic flora and fauna

Forest

Evergreen forest, riparian forest; endemic flora and fauna

Cultural value

Spiritual

Tombs: royal village; exorcism.

Folklore

People Bara and Sakalava

Archeological

Portuguese Cave

Educational and training value: protection and valorization of geoheritage

Regional

Awareness of local population

Professional

Training of Isalo Park staff on geoheritage

Classroom

Teacher’s training

University

Field work

Scientific value

Geoscience

Geoprocesses of basin formation

Sedimentology: deposit process of sandstone; mechanism of transportation, erosion and diagenesis; silicoclastic sedimentary rock (sandstone, siltstone, conglomerate)

Geological History

Isalo formation

Stratigraphy

Karroo supergroup: stratotype; sequence type

Geotectonic

Fault, diaclase

Paleontology

Biostratigraphy; paleoecology (paleoclimate, energy)

Geomorphological processes

Formation of deep Isalo sedimentary basin Fluvial processes Tectonic processes