Geodiversity is considered as the natural range of geological, geomorphological, and soil features, including their assemblages, relationships, properties, interpretations, and systems. A method developed for the quantitative assessment of geodiversity was applied to Paraná, a Brazilian state with an area of about 200,000 km 2. The method is based on the overlay of a grid over different maps at scales ranging from 1/500,000 to 1/650,000, with the final Geodiversity Index the sum of five partial indexes calculated on a 25 9 25 km grid. The partial indexes represent the main components of geodiversity, including geology (stratigraphy and lithology), geomorphology, paleontology, and soils. The fifth partial index covers mineral occurrences of geodiversity, such precious stones and metals, energy and industrial minerals, mineral waters, and springs. The Geodiversity Index takes the form of an isoline map that can be used as a tool in land-use planning, particularly in identifying priority areas for conservation, management, and use of natural resources at the state level.

Version française abrégéeLes géomorphosites sont des formes de relief qui ont acquis une valeur particulière en raison de la perception humaine (Panizza et Piacente, 1993). Cette valeur peut être d'ordre scientifique, écologique, culturel, esthétique et/ou économique (Reynard, 2005). Le développement de méthodologies d'évaluation des différentes valeurs des géomorphosites est l'une des préoccupations importantes de la recherche actuelle sur le patrimoine géomorphologique. Durant la dernière décennie, différents groupes de chercheurs ont proposé des démarches méthodologiques en vue d'évaluer, de comparer et de sélectionner les géo-

The development of research involving the geodiversity concept has been growing in the last two decades. The quantification of spatial patterns of geodiversity seems to be one of the most promising lines of research related with natural diversity, since it explores the relations between abiotic elements. This last aspect can be crucial, not only for territorial management, but also for conservation initiatives associated with biodiversity. The main aim of this study was to develop a new GIS procedure, based on centroid analysis, to calculate a geodiversity index, using kernel density, and to test its application in two municipalities with different area surfaces and geological setting. The proposed method is an upgrade of those previously published based on a spatial grid system at a landscape scale. The results of this method show that it is possible to obtain a spatial geodiversity standard that reflects the spatial variation of natural abiotic elements on both territories and that lithology and geomorphology are the key drivers that control the geodiversity index. In addition, the testing procedures have demonstrated that this method can be applied to areas with any geological and geomorphological setting and at different scales and also to be a useful tool for land use planning.

Geoconservation-the conservation of valued geodiversity features through their assessment and management-has strongly increased during the last two decades emerging as a new research area in geosciences (e.g.

The main geomorphological features of the eastern part of the Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro region are presented, namely the Iberian Meseta, the residual ridges, the Serra de Montesinho, the tectonic landforms and the Douro River incision. The Iberian Meseta is represented by extensive plateaus shaped in pre-Mesozoic rocks of the Iberian Massif. Above the Meseta plateaus, Appalachiantype reliefs are built in metamorphic rocks, testifying an older planation surface. Below the plateaus, the incised river network and the canyon-type Douro River Valley in the Portugal-Spain border region reveal a recent Atlantic capture of the northern interior of Iberia. Nonetheless, it is the Vilariça NNE-SSW trending strike-slip fault system that is the main source for the push-up elevations and strike-slip tectonic basins bordered by pop-up type mountains that define the tectonic landscape of the region.

Resumo:São representadas cartografi camente as unidades geomorfológicas identifi cadas para os 89015 km2 do território de Portugal Continental. A delimitação das unidades teve por base a análise dos padrões da textura fornecida por imagens SRTM, com revisão e adaptação posterior à altimetria e à geologia, para os quais foram usadas bases cartográfi cas digitais. Foram considerados três níveis taxionómicos que permitem descrever e caracterizar áreas homogéneas do ponto de vista geomorfológico. As três unidades de 1º nível baseiam-se nas unidades morfostruturais clássicas consideradas para a Península Ibérica. As dez unidades de 2º nível constituem, na sua maioria, divisões clássicas do relevo de Portugal Continental, agora agrupadas de acordo com a metodologia adoptada e designadas como unidades morfosculturais. As 56 unidades de 3º nível, ou subunidades morfosculturais, foram individualizadas com base nos padrões de relevo identifi cados nas imagens SRTM e na observação de campo e adquiriram uma designação baseada essencialmente nas geoformas que as individualizam e na toponímia local. As unidades geomorfológicas identifi cadas são descritas Informações sobre o Artigo

Abstract. The main barriers to science communication are common in different fields and they are widely identified in the literature. Studies focused on specific scientific communities framed science communication as an activity with the specificities of each context and field. In this study, we analysed geoscientists' representations and attitudes about communication to understand which factors can have significant impact on the prediction of public engagement and that can explain the frequency/intensity of communication. The results pointed out that factors such as professional experience, recognition by the institution, lack of financial support, personal satisfaction and geoscientific area of expertise, have a significant effect on their public engagement.

A study of the Tagus River floodplain (Portugal) has been carried out using a variety of methods including sedimentological, geochemical and geochronological analyses, as well as geomorphological and hydrological studies, performed in order to characterize the flood sediments and the dynamics of the river during the Holocene. Until the 19th century, the Tagus was an anastomosed river, with multiple channels separated by large areas of floodplain; today, it is a single channel river with alternate bars, mainly as a result of anthropogenic modification. In order to study its behaviour during the Holocene, four cores ranging in length from 3.70 to 8.04 m were obtained from the floodplain and 232 samples were analysed. Detailed textural analysis was necessary owing to the lack of preservation of sedimentary structures in the cores. The sediments of the present-day geomorphological elements of the floodplain (bars, natural levees, crevasse-splay deposits, flood basin and abandoned channels) were also studied in order to compare their textural characteristics with those of the cored samples. Both the present analogues and core sediments were well discriminated using mean diameter versus standard deviation and average mean diameter versus average mud percentage graphical correlations. The textural parameters defined (sand/mud ratio, mean, standard deviation, skewness) and particularly the interparameter correlations, together with 12 14 C numerical ages of organic matter obtained, allowed the evaluation of: (i) sedimentological changes in the floodplain (channel migration, avulsion and crevasse-splay development); and (ii) the chronological evolution of the different energetic environments of the floodplain for the past 4 kyr. These approaches permitted the determination of sedimentation rates for the different alluvial plain environments. The highest sedimentation rates occurred in the flood basin and channelfill domains, with values ranging from 2.2 mm yr −1 to 4.7 mm yr −1 and the lowest in the channel (0.3 mm yr −1 ). Values from 0.8 to 1.6 mm yr −1 were recorded in sedimentary environments proximal to the channel, where several crevasse-splay episodes have been recognized. In the period common to the four cores, i.e. the past 4000 yr, the sedimentation rates decreased towards the present. In spite of increasing human intervention in the hydrographic basin during this time, the increasing aridity of the climate is considered to have outweighed the sediment availability, which resulted in a decreasing sedimentation rate.