SIGNIFICANT FEATURES OF GUNUNG SEWU KARST AS GEOPARK SITE

Gunung Sewu is internationally well known for its typical conical karst morphology. It was Lehman who first introduced Gunung Sewu Type to the karst literatures. The term is now used world wide to describe the same morphology as that in Gunung Sewu Karst. The other outstanding morphological feature of Gunung Sewu Karst is the existences of gorge know as ancient Bengawan Solo valley. This gorge records uplift history of Java Island during Quaternary of which the river course turned from southward direction to northward direction. The area has also significant position in human history, since the area is considered as a pre-historic capital city of south-east Asia. Habitation of Gunung Sewu karst has been started since Middle Pleistocene through three phase chronologies. In the early habitation human settlement occupies open space along river courses. When the caves were exposed, human settlement moved to the caves and distributed along dry valleys or near doline ponds. Cave habitations ended when major depression dried out providing extensive agricultural land. The area currently is facing environmental deterioration. To cop with this, local groups including NGO, local people, university, and government have already established Karst Gunung Sewu Management Forum since 2008 which is facilitated by the Ministry of Environmental. Environmental management action plan has been enacted including protection area under Geopark scheme.