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Sustainability is a concept that continues to evolve and perplex in tourism, one of the world’s largest industries. Effective new theories and practices are constantly explored to incorporate the three pillars of sustainability (economic, socio-cultural and environmental) into tourism frameworks. Although marginally successful, sustainable tourism development remains a much criticised concept due to its lack of consistent implementation and conceptual and practical difficulties. In comparison, due to their focus on participation processes, integration of resources and response to specific needs and contexts, ecomuseological principles can be very useful for the development of community-based sustainable tourism products. These principles can be recognized within the philosophy and practices that tend to characterise individual ecomuseums and can be viewed as the key values of the ecomuseum ideal. This research project examines the potential of using the principles of ecomuseology to support sustainable tourism development. In particular, the research adopted a mixed-methods approach which analysed the potential of using these principles for supporting sustainable tourism development in the Rupununi, an isolated and heritage-rich region in central Guyana. The data collection process involved a mixture of literature reviews, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with a variety of local, national and international stakeholders. The primary goal in data collection was to construct a profile of the Rupununi tourism structure to identify and evaluate areas in which ecomuseological principles would be best suited to provide support. The findings from this research suggest that the principles of ecomuseology possess considerable potential to support sustainable tourism development in the Rupununi and potentially other destinations internationally. Indeed, results demonstrated that several of these principles were already being implemented by stakeholders in the region, although the term ‘ecomuseum’ is not being used anywhere by stakeholders. However, many principles are decidedly underused while the Rupununi is currently experiencing a significant shift in its relationship with the ‘outside’ world where societal changes are already affecting local economic development, heritage resources and host communities. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that ecomuseology presents a flexible framework that can be used to address these changes and dually support heritage management and iii economic development in the region. However, adopting the ecomuseum name is not recommended as a way forward for Rupununi stakeholders to improve sustainability. Instead, incorporating particular ecomuseological principles including a holistic approach to interpretation and information sharing, placing equal attention on cultural and natural resources and monitoring the changes to the region over time can support the three pillars of sustainability in the region. Lastly, this research demonstrated that these principles can be applicable to sustainable tourism development in many developing world contexts. However, the researcher argues that the theoretical framework for ecomuseums needs to be re-considered before it can be fully adopted in the lesser developed countries. This dissertation concludes by addressing this and other areas in need of further research while outlining the future of Rupununi tourism.

P waveforms from small intraplate earthquakes observed at teleseismic distances often exhibit discrete arrivals which are easily interpreted in terms of a direct P phase and associated surface reflections. These arrivals contain information about the P and S radiation pattern at the source. This thesis attempts to quantify how much information about the source is contained in seismograms from small disturbances. In the first study, regional surface waves and P waves recorded at teleseismic distances by short period (SP), long period (LP) and broadband (BB) seismographs are analysed to determine the source parameters of the Völkershausen seismic disturbance of 13 March 1989. This disturbance is the source of some controversy, with many proposed source mechanisms, including a shallow multiple mine collapse. Application of the relative amplitude method and forward modelling of the P waveforms recorded at teleseismic distances suggest that the data are consistent with a sub-vertical normal dip slip fault striking northwest-southeast at a depth of 6.5 km. Forward modelling of the surface waves recorded by the Blacknest broadband network shows that the observed surface waves are consistent with this source model. Examination of SP seismograms from the French network and waveforms from the Gräfenberg array, in the distance range 100 to 500 km, show no large R_g phase, which would be expected for a shallow mine collapse. In a second study, over 50 small earthquakes in the 1976 Gazli sequence were analysed based on SP array station recordings. Pearce et al (1980) studied 21 of these earthquakes using the relative amplitude method (Pearce 1977, 1980), assuming an a priori double couple source, and found that the observed waveforms were consistent with 45° reverse dip slip faults striking northwest-southeast.