Mar 2026
Geoheritage and Natural Hazards
Abstract
Geoheritage is an emerging scientific field focusing on identifying, recognizing, and conserving Earth’s abiotic environment. Over the past decade, geoheritage research has experienced significant growth across a wide range of approaches and topics, including paleontology, sedimentology, structural geology, and volcanology, which are among the most common types of geoheritage. In this brief time, geoheritage has become a highly recognized discipline that connects seemingly disparate geoscience fields and even other areas of study. Today, geoheritage research has developed a comprehensive set of inventory methods used by planners, conservation specialists, urban designers, and geohazard management teams. While studying natural hazards is a core practical aspect of modern society’s research, recent global and planetary changes have made them an increasingly important focus in geoheritage studies. This presentation will examine the diversity of natural hazards from a geoheritage perspective, emphasizing how geoheritage can help develop a hazard-resilient society. Additional practical considerations include how human activities and natural processes can threaten existing geosites, conservation properties, UNESCO heritage sites, visitation planning, and conservation strategies. The presentation will take audiences to exciting locations in the SW Pacific, such as New Zealand, Vanuatu, and Samoa, explore conservation opportunities in Central Europe and South America, and discuss how such concepts could be applied to the hazard landscape of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, aligning with its tourism and sustainability objectives.
Biography
Károly Németh is a prominent Hungarian-New Zealander geologist and academic. He holds dual PhDs in geology and environmental sciences and serves as an adjunct professor at Massey University in New Zealand. He is affiliated with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and is a Professor at the Institute of Earth Physics and Earth Sciences in Sopron, Hungary. Currently, he works as a Natural Hazards Consultant at the Saudi Geological Survey in Jeddah.
He was elected to the Executive Committee of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI), served as Vice President of the International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS), and now chairs the International Union of Geological Sciences’ Subcommission on Geological Heritage Sites. He led and helped form key commissions of IAVCEI, including the Commission on Volcanogenic Sediments, Monogenetic Volcanism, Volcanic Geoheritage, and Volcanic Geology. He is also a founding member of the Commission on Science Communication. He founded the IAVCEI book series "Advances in Volcanology" and has served as an editor or section editor for leading journals, including the Bulletin of Volcanology, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Geosciences, Geographies, Journal of African Earth Sciences, Arabian Journal of Science and Engineering, among others.
While he is now based in Jeddah, his family roots are in the Polynesian island of Samoa.
He was elected a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI), Vice President of the International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS), and currently the Chair of the International Union of Geological Sciences’ Subcommission on Geological Heritage Sites. He was leading and forming key Commissions of IAVCEI, including the IAVCEI Commission on Volcanogenic Sediments, Monogenetic Volcanism, Volcanic Geoheritage, and Volcanic Geology, while currently a founding member of the Commission on Science Communication. He established the IAVCEI book series Advances in Volcanology while serving as Editor and Section Editor for leading Journals, including Bulletin of Volcanology, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Geosciences, Geographies, Journal of African Earth Sciences, Arabian Journal of Science and Engineering, and the most recent ones.
While he is now in Jeddah, his family base is in the Polynesian Island of Samoa.
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