Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
determinative both as prerequisites and constraints for these types of economic
activities.
The assessments of the direct role of relief from the resource viewpoint are
more specific mainly from the recreational-tourist and partially from the medical-
geographic aspect.
The recreational-tourist aspect of relief ensues from the necessity for avail-
able geomorphologic objects with suitable properties for generating certain tourist
demand and realization of respective tourist products for the different forms of
tourism (Alexiev et al., 2005 ). Usually these are objects of high attractiveness,
related to the specificity of the respective morphosculptural genetic type of relief, for
example: karst - caves, dolines, backsets, canyons, abysses, ledges, crowns, traver-
tine terraces, sinter pans, etc. (represented mainly in the Fore Balkan and the
Rhodopes); erosion - gorges, doughs, canyons, meanders, waterfalls, erosion caul-
drons, etc. (represented mainly in Stara Planina, Kraishte, the Rhodopes); glacial -
cirques, carlings, trough valleys, moraines, stone fields and others (Rila and Pirin)
etc. The so-called rock phenomena occupy a special place as products from spe-
cific morphogenetic processes. They depend on the stability of the bedrock and its
selective destruction, provisionally typified in the following three groups:
erosion-deflation - earth pyramids, rock mushrooms, etc. (Katina, Stob, Melnik,
Zimzelen, etc.);
karst-erosion - rock arcs, bridges, windows, pits, etc. (Chudnite Mostove (the
Wonder Bridges) in the Rhodopes, Chudnite Skali (Wonder Rocks) in Stara
Planina, etc.);
lithological-destructive - prismatic basalt pillars (near the Studen Kladenets dam
on the Arda River), vertical riolite walls and needles (in the region of Smolyan),
spherical moraine-like blocks of massive rocks (in Vitosha), figures with outlines
of rock castles, obelisks, people, animals (Belogradchik rocks), etc.
Deposits of interesting natural specimens of the so-called Geological Heritage
(rocks, minerals, crystals, fossils, etc.) may also be connected to a significant extent
with the rock phenomena. Relief forms like ridges and peaks with panoramic views,
slope steps, river terraces, structural platforms, etc., may also possess certain tourist
attractiveness. It has to be mentioned that for the specialized types of tourism, for
example, for many types of sport tourism related to relief characteristics (climb-
ing, ski slopes, cycling routes, rafting, etc.), the evaluation parameters are to a great
extent measurable by concrete parameters, while for the mass forms of tourism the
attractiveness parameters are to a great extent subjective and are defined by the
criteria for diversity, picturesqueness, uniqueness, exoticness, etc.
The tourist attractiveness of the different sites related to relief is enhanced also
by the presence of other, so-called physiognomic natural components such as veg-
etation, water, animals - for example, steep bare rocks, inhabited by eagles or
with Edelweiss habitats, deeply incised river valleys with thick forests or water-
falls, etc. In the Bulgarian mountains there are many concentrations of resources of
geomorphologic nature that are significant for recreation and tourism, which makes
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