Prospects of development of paleontological tourism in Western Kazakhstan

Abstract

Paleontology is an important and integral part of geology and is an important scientific discipline that helps to better understand the history of life on Earth. The popularization of paleontology is currently based on the findings of fossils. The popularity of this science has allowed paleontology to penetrate into such an area of human activity as tourism, making it accessible to both a wide range of people and those who are interested in expanding their horizons and qualifications of paleontologist-specialist. The purpose of this work was to identify potential sites for paleontological tourism in Western Kazakhstan. In the article the possibility of developing paleontological tourism in Western Kazakhstan was discussed. The main locations of the natural sites of invertebrate and vertebrate fossils, such as the village, were described. Pogodaevo, the Aktolagai Cretaceous plateau, Akkogershin, the Kara bala-Kan Temir necropolis, the Koi-Kara Mountains, Iman-kara, Sululy Kapy gorge, tracts of the Mangystau region, and places of storage of fossils, inspection and study of paleontological finds were given. A model of paleontological tourism was proposed. In general, Western Kazakhstan has а perspective for the development of paleontological tourism of an excursion and educational nature. For this purpose, the region has a large number of resources and various local history and environmental museums containing paleontological materials.