Definição de categorias temáticas e dos primeiros locais de interesse geológico do Rio Grande do Norte como base para o inventário geológico potiguar

Abstract

The State of Rio Grande do Norte is recognized for its diverse processes and geological aspects, presenting a unique geodiversity. The first action to devise strategies geodiversity protection consists in the elaboration of inventories of the geoheritage of a previously defined region. In this sense, this monograph consisted of a survey / inventory of Places of Geological Interest (PGI) of the State of Rio Grande do Norte, focused on to identifying those PGI´s that present the scientific value. The methodological steps consisted in the survey of the thematic; in the creation of 15 (fifteen) Thematic Categories focused on a better understanding of potiguar geodiversity, in the cataloging of Potential Sites of Geological Interest based on project field scripts and presentations at academic events and other documents compiled in a database in Excel worksheet; and finally, in applying the criteria to characterize the site as being of scientific relevance. As results, we obtained a description of the Frameworks created; 10 (ten) PGIs of scientific value were identified, as well as the description and inventory of identified PGIs, which were later grouped in the contexts of 6 (six) Frameworks; and finally it was obtained a 1: 1.500.000 scale PGIs location map. In the discussions, it was observed that most of the inventories of PGIs are inserted in the context of the Potiguar Basin and that, therefore, the specific interest that prevailed in the described places was the "Sedimentary". In addition, because of this, there was a predominance of the frameworks inserted in the same context. It was also observed that of the identified PGIs, 30% of them are inserted in areas with policies aimed at their protection. However, the remaining 70% are not protected yet by this measures. Thus, it was concluded that the existence of researches that emphasize the importance to the academic / scientific environment of these PGIs is strictly necessary in order to stimulate the implementation of policies and protected areas, as well as to contribute to the identification of the potiguar geoharitage.