Book
Geodiversity of Brazil: knowing the past to understand the present and predict the future
Registro en:
SILVA, Cassio Roberto da (Ed.). Geodiversity of Brazil: knowing the past to understand the present and predict the future. Rio de Janeiro: CPRM, 2012.
Autor
SILVA, Cassio Roberto da
Institución
Resumen
In view of its wide intended readership, the information is presented in language that
aims to be both precise (although without going into scientific and technical concepts in
too much depth) and easy to understand. Basically, the idea is to popularize geodiversity
by demonstrating its many social, environmental and economic applications.
The 14 chapters in the book address the topic from different perspectives, starting
with the origins and evolution of planet Earth to the current day, along with the evolution,
appearance and extinction of species throughout geological time as investigated by palaeontology.
Special attention is given to water, without which life could not exist, as well as the great mineral
wealth on land and on the deepest ocean floors.
It also demonstrates the incredible fragility of the physical environment in coastal areas, the characteristics
and applications of different tropical soils, the potential of geological heritage for geotourism
and the importance of geoconservation. The risks inherent to landslides, floods, earthquakes and
desertification are set out in brief, as is the unmatched contribution geodiversity can make to better
understanding global climate change, using a humanistic approach and applying this knowledge to
different areas and sectors of the economy.
In the last chapter, basic information is provided on the major geosystems that make up Brazilian
territory: their potentialities and limitations based on their lithology and geological structure and processes.
The geotechnical features, soils, water migration, storage and availability, areas of vulnerability
and propensities for different human activities dependent on geological factors, and the availability of
the mineral resources required for the country’s social and economic development are also discussed.
We are confident that this book will be of great utility to its readers, be they teachers, professionals
from different areas, businesses and, most of all, public administrators, who understand that geology can
be applied beyond its acknowledged economic dimension to inform social and environmental issues as well.
By incorporating geology-related issues into government policymaking processes, geodiversity can
make a great contribution to society, helping to improve the quality of life for everyone.
In view of the excellent reception of this book to the organs of federal and state governments, universities
and business sectors, we prepared the English version to disseminate and consolidate geodiversity as an
important tool that can be applied to other countries, for the Territorial planning, management and ordering.