Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21861/AGC.2019.45-46.06
Status and endangerment of Međimurje's mining geoheritage
Mihaela Mesarić
; Međimurje Nature – Public Institution for Nature Protection, Križovec, Mursko Središće, Croatia
Nenad Buzjak
orcid.org/0000-0001-8760-1906
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science, Department of Geography, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In Međimurje mining has a long tradition, and the period from the 1920s to the 1970s was marked by coal mining. In the areas of exploitation, as traces of coal mining, two types of anthropogenic relief forms were detected: a) elevated (halde) and b) concave (grabe). Around Mursko Središće, 38 such geomorphological features have been recorded. They are an example of a mining geoheritage defined as a transitional category between geoheritage (natural) and industrial (cultural) heritage. The recorded geomorphological features are of varying degrees of preservation. Out of the total number of elevated anthropogenic relief forms (halde) around Mursko Središće, 11 (31%) have some degree of degradation. The reasons for the degradation are anthropogenic through the excavation of parts of the features and the removal of part of the accumulated material. Future interventions are such as the construction of a road bypass, the expansion of the gravel and sand exploitation field, or the expansion of the industrial zone. Mining geoheritage needs to be protected through IUCN category V as a protected terrestrial landscape.
Keywords
natural heritage; cultural heritage; geomorphological feature; coal mining; degradation
Hrčak ID:
244451
URI
Publication date:
25.9.2020.
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