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Araripe Basin: A Major Geodiversity Hotspot in Brazil

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Abstract

In addition to a Fossil-Lagerstätte of international significance for the Lower Cretaceous, the Araripe basin is one of the richest and most threatened reservoirs of geodiversity in Brazil. Far from being limited to its palaeontological heritage, the major importance of geodiversity in the Araripe region is also related to high levels of geomorphodiversity, pedodiversity, and hydrodiversity, as evidenced by recent research. However, numerous threats and severe damages were identified in the field, affecting all the components of the abiotic nature. As a major geodiversity hotspot, the Araripe basin requires greater attention along with an urgent need for conservation in areas without adapted protection tools. The creation of the Araripe UNESCO Global Geopark in 2006 was a crucial step toward geodiversity conservation, but its present borders are far from covering the Araripe basin as a whole. This implies the search for new solutions or alternatives, mainly in the field of geoeducation, to raise geodiversity awareness among the municipal authorities as well as the local population, in a predominantly rural region today affected by rapid and poorly planned urban growth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Paris-Diderot, UMR CNRS 8586 PRODIG, case courrier 7001, 75205, Paris cedex 13, France

    François Bétard

  2. Université Paris-Sorbonne, 191 rue Saint-Jacques, 75005, Paris, France

    Jean-Pierre Peulvast

  3. Universidade Regional do Cariri (URCA), Laboratório de Análise Geoambiental, LAGEO, Rua Coronel Antônio Luiz 1161, Crato, Ceará, 63105-000, Brazil

    Alexsandra de Oliveira Magalhães & Maria de Lourdes Carvalho Neta

  4. Araripe UNESCO Global Geopark, Carolino Sucupira, s/n - Pimenta, Crato, Ceará, 63105-000, Brazil

    Francisco Idalecio de Freitas

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  1. François Bétard
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  2. Jean-Pierre Peulvast
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  3. Alexsandra de Oliveira Magalhães
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  4. Maria de Lourdes Carvalho Neta
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  5. Francisco Idalecio de Freitas
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Correspondence to François Bétard.

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Bétard, F., Peulvast, JP., Magalhães, A. et al. Araripe Basin: A Major Geodiversity Hotspot in Brazil. Geoheritage 10, 543–558 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-017-0232-5

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