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Article Dans Une Revue Environment, Space, Place Année : 2018

Geodiversity and Anthropocene Landscapes: New Perceptions and Aesthetic Renewal of Some European “Coalscapes”

Géodiversité and paysages de l'Anthropocène: nouvelles perceptions et renouveaux esthétiques des paysages du charbon en Europe.

Résumé

Geodiversity is defined as “the natural range (diversity) of geological (rocks, minerals, fossils), geomorphological (land form, processes) and soil features. It includes their assemblages, relationships, properties, interpretations and systems.” This very physical definition is enlarged by a holistic point of view associated to cultural geomorphology which embraces social and artistic representations of landforms, sometimes considered as a geo-heritage. In this point of view, coal mining memory is symbolized by heap and mine's galleries which are anthropogenic landforms. With abandonment, their appearance has changed through time and in the North of France, the “black gold” became “green gold.” This paper aims to reconstitute the landscape trajectories of these recently rediscovered “coalscapes” and focuses on European coal landscapes, particularly on the Atlantic Front. The studies of the iconography of the National Work Archives compared to present landscapes shows that new heritage statuses focus on picturesque landscape but also reveal an evolution of this model: after having included ecology, (geo)heritage coalscapes make the picturesque model change by taking into account environmental changes, new touristic practices (eco and geo-tourism) and new perceptions of industrial and mining landscapes. In a broader sense, this perception of landscapes refers to the anthropocene times, where human artifacts such as mining features represent human prints on the environment. This paper questions European coal landscape as symbols of migrating landscapes that linked, scientifically and aesthetically, old and modern Europe.

Domaines

Géographie
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Dates et versions

hal-04660557 , version 1 (24-07-2024)

Identifiants

Citer

Claire Portal. Geodiversity and Anthropocene Landscapes: New Perceptions and Aesthetic Renewal of Some European “Coalscapes”. Environment, Space, Place, 2018, 10 (1), pp.89-110. ⟨10.5749/envispacplac.10.1.0089⟩. ⟨hal-04660557⟩
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