Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic geoheritage resources of the Kharga Oasis (Egypt): Novel assessment, exploitation perspectives, and policy implications

Geoheritage resources are valuable to countries and regions, which make urgent their exploration. Particularly, Egyptian geoheritage has been examined only partly, and it has not been reported from many areas. New field investigations in the Kharga Oasis in the southern Western Desert of Egypt permit to report a new portion of geoheritage resources. The collected materials are used to propose six geosites, describe them (particularly, standardized geoheritage types are established), and assess semi-quantitatively. The approach is the same as already used for some other areas of Egypt, and the semi-quantitative assessment is based on scoring of various geosite properties with the different weight. It is established that these geosites exhibit lithologies and depositional environments of Upper Cretaceous–Eocene terrestrial and marine sedimentary rocks, Quaternary terrestrial carbonates (tufa deposits), and residual desert landforms. The geosites are attributed to the sedimentary, palaeogeographical, stratigraphical, palaeontological, and geomorphological geoheritage types. Scoring them by several criteria implies that two geosites (Naqb El-Rufuf and Naqb Bulaq) are national and four geosites (Naqb Assiut, Wadi El-Midawara, Gebel Taref, and Kharga Stadium) are regional in rank. The accessibility of some geosites is limited, and the Kharga Stadium geosite demonstrates significant vulnerability due to its location in the urban area. Generally, the analyses imply the presence of a valuable geoheritage resource in the Kharga Oasis. The outcomes of the present study also indicate the perspectives of scientific, educational, and touristic exploitation of the established geoheritage resources and the need in the development of the optimal policy for their effective management. Geopark creation seems to be a plausible instrument for the implementation of this policy, and its proposal requires further investigations of geological and cultural heritage of the Kharga Oasis.