GEOHERITAGE VALUES OF THE TRANSBOUNDARY WORLD HERITAGE OF PHONG NHA-KE BANG NATIONAL PARK AND HIN NAM NO NATIONAL PARK

DOI: 10.18173/2354-1059.2025-0065

Abstract

Located on the same karst plateau, Phong Nha - Ke Bang and Hin Nam No National Parks have common characteristics of karst geology, geomorphology, and hydrology. Using a geoheritage approach with field surveys, laboratory analyses, document synthesis, and comparative analysis, the geoheritage’s outstanding universal values of Phong Nha - Ke Bang - Hin Nam No have been clarified and supplemented. These values include a long geological and geomorphological evolution from the Middle Cambrian to the Quaternary; the world's largest area of pristine humid tropical karst, featuring a diversity in both surface and subsurface landforms with many global and regional records; and Triassic - Middle Jurassic paleokarst in the form of buried surfaces and filled fissures and caves, a new outstanding universal value unrepresented in the current World Heritage sites.