Abstract:

Studying the spatial patterns and influencing factors of important geoheritage is crucial for advancing geoheritage research and developing the geotourism economy.This paper examines 334 important geoheritage sites in Hubei Province using tools such as the average nearest neighbor index, kernel density analysis, imbalance index, spatial autocorrelation, and geographic detector to explore their spatial distribution and driving factors.The results show that key geoheritage sites in Hubei Province exhibit a significant aggregated distribution pattern, with an uneven spatial distribution.These sites are primarily concentrated in areas such as Yichang, Enshi, Shennongjia, and Shiyan in the western part of the province.On a global scale, important geoheritage sites show a significant positive spatial correlation.However, at a local scale, the spatial aggregation patterns for different types of geoheritage vary significantly.Geographic detector results indicate that factors such as mineral resources, topographic and landform conditions, strata, lithology, tourism resources, economic conditions, tourism income, each with a single-factor explanatory power greater than 0.2, are the main determinants of the spatial distribution of geological relics.Additionally, interactions between climate conditions, geological structure, economic conditions, and tourism resources, with explanatory power exceeding 0.7, are also significant in influencing the spatial distribution of geological relics.

Key words: geoheritage, spatial distribution, influencing factor, geographic detector, Hubei Province