Assessment of Geodiversity in the Southern Part of the Central Iberian Zone (Jaén Province): Usefulness for Delimiting and Managing Natural Protected Areas

Abstract

To explore the relationship between geodiversity and borders of natural protected areas, we studied the northern part of Jaén Province (southern Spain), where the southern sector of the Central Iberian Massif, the Betic Cordillera and the Guadalquivir foreland basin come together. Moreover, several natural protected areas (NPAs) are located here. To approach the topic, we defined the geodiversity index as the sum of partial indices: lithological, geomorphological, palaeontological, pedological, minerals, hydrology and geosites. This made it possible to derive a map of the geodiversity index and a map of geodiversity gradient. Analysis of their distribution shows that almost 80% of the territory has values of medium, high and very high geodiversity, but these zones are situated outside the borders of the NPAs. A similar study considering two biological indices (endangered species and biodiversity) shows a good correlation between the limits of NPAs and the higher values of these indices. Thus, an absence of correlation between the geodiversity index and biological indices is clearly detected. These results are not in agreement with the definition of NPAs in the current Spanish laws of nature conservation.

Geodiversity and Biodiversity to Delimit Natural Protected Areas. Examples From the Jaén Province (Southern Spain)

“…The geodiversity of the southern and eastern part of the province of Jaén can be catalogued of high and considering that values near 20 points are reached in some points, but is lower than the maximum values obtained in the northern part of this province, about 24 points (Fernández et al 2020). Thus, the lithologic index shows similar values in both areas, with maximum values of about 13-14, giving practically the same classi cation intervals.…”

“…From north to south, are the Variscan Massif, geographically represented by Sierra Morena, the Guadalquivir Basin, represented by the valley of the same river and the Betic External Zone (BEZ), which extend to the east and south of the Guadalquivir Basin (Ruiz-Ortiz 1999; Vera 2004). The geodiversity of the former was analyzed in Fernández et al (2020), so it will not be discussed in the present research, limiting the area covered to the southern and eastern sectors of the province (Fig. 1d), which comprise the BEZ and the Guadalquivir Basin (Fig.…”

Geodiversity Assessment as a First Step in Designating Areas of Geotourism Potential. Case Study: Western Carpathians

“…For the analysis of geodiversity, several components are most often used, which are primarily relief models, land cover, lithology, soil cover, hydrographic network, etc. (Zwoliński, , 2010Zwoliński and Stachowiak, 2012;Kot, 2015;Fernández et al, 2020).…”

“…The most problematic seems to be the geological (lithological) analysis, because so far no way has been found to objectively classify rock types according to the relevant criteria. The criteria used in the lithological geodiversity map in this article somehow refer to those proposed by, for example, Zwoliński and Stachowiak (2012), de Paula Silva et al (2021), or Fernández (2020. However, it is worth mentioning here a fairly important element, which is not only determining the criteria of individual lithological forms on the basis of their characteristic features and assigning them appropriate values but also reflecting on their diversity resulting from the number of different types of rocks in a given unit (e.g., tectonic) (Chrobak, 2018).…”

“…In recent years, geodiversity has become very popular as a subject of scientific publications, not only in the context of the definition of the term (e.g., Zwoliński, 2004;Gray, 2005Gray, , 2008Gray, , 2018aBrilha, 2016;Coratza et al, 2018) but also, primarily, as an element of description, evaluation, analysis, or assessment of selected areas (e.g., Gray, 2019;Perotti et al, 2019;Albani et al, 2020;Fernández et al, 2020;Herrera-Franco et al, 2020).…”