10.57647/j.gcr.2023.0602.28

On the Geological and Palaeontological Heritage of the Azores Archipelago and the Urgent need to Review the Geosites of the Azores UNESCO Geopark: A Comment on Lima & Meneses (2023), Geoconservation Research, 6: 114-127

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  • Sérgio P. Ávila*1,2,3,4,
  • Ana Hipólito1,2,3,4,
  • Patrícia Madeira1,2,3,4,
  • Lara Baptista1,2,3,5,6,
  • Samuel Arruda7,8,
  • Gonçalo Castela Ávila9,10,
  • Carlos Góis-Marques11,12,13,14,
  • Rui Quartau15,
  1. MPB – Marine Palaeontology and Biogeography Lab, University of the Azores, Rua da Mãe de Deus, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Açores, Portugal
  2. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Pólo dos Açores, Azores, Portugal
  3. UNESCO Chair – Land Within Sea: Biodiversity & Sustainability in Atlantic Islands
  4. BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal
  5. Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Portugal
  6. University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Institute for Integrative Nature Conservation Research, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33 1180 Wien, Austria
  7. MPB – Marine Palaeontology and Biogeography Lab, University of the Azores, Rua da Mãe de Deus, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Açores, Portugal
  8. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Pólo dos Açores, Azores, Portugal
  9. MPB – Marine Palaeontology and Biogeography Lab, University of the Azores, Rua da Mãe de Deus, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Açores, Portugal
  10. Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Portugal
  11. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Pólo dos Açores, Azores, Portugal
  12. BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão,
  13. Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Portugal
  14. Madeira Botanical Group (GBM), Faculdade de Ciências da Vida, Universidade da Madeira, Campus da Penteada, 9000-390, Funchal, Portugal
  15. Departamento de Geologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande 1749-016  AND  Lisboa, Portugal10 Divisão de Geologia Marinha, Instituto Hidrográfico, Lisboa, Portugal
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Published in Issue 2023-12-20

Copyright (c) -1 Sérgio P. Ávila, Ana Hipólito, Patrícia Madeira, Lara Baptista, Samuel Arruda, Gonçalo Castela Ávila, Carlos Góis-Marques, Rui Quartau (Author)

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Ávila, S. P. ., Hipólito, A., Madeira, P., Baptista, L., Arruda, S., Ávila, G. C. ., Góis-Marques, C., & Quartau, R. (2023). On the Geological and Palaeontological Heritage of the Azores Archipelago and the Urgent need to Review the Geosites of the Azores UNESCO Geopark: A Comment on Lima & Meneses (2023), Geoconservation Research, 6: 114-127. Geoconservation Research, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.57647/j.gcr.2023.0602.28
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Abstract

In a recent review article, Lima & Meneses (2023, Geoconservation Research, 6 (1): 114-127) reported on the Azores Geopark, introducing a new geosite for São Miguel Island. We here express our concerns regarding the data presented in this review article. In our commentary, we focus mainly on the use of older bibliographic sources and inaccurate age estimates for some islands, as well as the absence of important references, which results in a poor revision of the published literature on the geology and paleontology of the Azores Archipelago. Furthermore, and over ten years since the successful application to UNESCO for the implementation of the Azores Geopark, we stress the urgent need to re-evaluate the list of geosites selected by the Azores Geopark team, a task that we suggest could be done involving the collaboration of an expert and multidisciplinary scientific team.

Keywords

  • Azores Archipelago,
  • Azores Geopark,
  • Geoconservation,
  • Geology,
  • International relevant geosites,
  • Paleontology
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