Proposta de musealização do geossítio Pontal da Santa Cruz como ferramenta de apreensão do patrimônio geológico

Abstract

Brazil has a rich geological heritage, consisting of a diversity of geosites, which represent a unique geodiversity of great symbolic and scientific value. The promotion and conservation of geological heritage is, at the 21st century, one of the greatest challenges. The first initiatives to preserve this heritage had centered their attention on the need of inventorying the geological sites existing in each country, seeking to promote recognition, and safeguarding. Among the initiatives for the conservation of this heritage, initiatives for the musealization of the territory can favor the construction of a more integrated and comprehensive view of socio-environmental issues by providing: the interrelationship between environment, geology, and society; the interrelationship of specific fields of knowledge between geology, museology, and education. Therefore, this work aims to discuss a proposal for the musealization of the Pontal de Santa Cruz Geosite, in the Araripe Geopark (CE), as it presents in its area a diversity of elements, such as geological, geomorphological, paleontological, historical, scenic, touristic, and cultural. These elements are interconnected with local geodiversity, characterized by the "variety of abiotic nature, including lithological, tectonic, geomorphological, edaphic, hydrogeological, topographical elements and physical processes on the land surface, seas and oceans, together with systems generated by endogenous, exogenous and anthropic natural processes, which encompass the diversity of particles, elements and places” (SERRANO E RUIZ-FLANO, 2007, p144). The Geosite under study is part of a set of geosites that make up the Araripe Geopark, endorsing an invaluable heritage value, as shown by Brilha (2005) through the patrimonialization of the inventoried and relevant geodiversity of a given region. Therefore, the Pontal de Santa Cruz Geosite, located 4 km from the city of Santana do Cariri, in the south of the state of Ceará (GEOPARK ARARIPE, S/D), served as an object of study through a proposal for musealization. The area is formed by the sandstone of the Exu Formation that constitutes the upper portion of the Chapada do Araripe escarpment, with a low paleontological diversity, but favoring the accumulation of water and the construction of a scenic landscape of touristic and socioeconomic interest. In addition to the geopaleontological aspect, its historical and religious importance can be added through the existence of the chapel and the Cross, dating from the mid-twentieth century, and linked to the legend of the “haunting”, one of the many existing legends in the region. Despite the observation of geoconservation strategies in the geosite, such as classification, conservation (management), communication and management, the absence of the most effective communication stage of museumization was observed, linked to the other stages of this process (inventory, documentation, conservation, and research). Thus, geological explanations (in its most diversified aspects), historical and cultural are proposed in the geosite under study, aiming at a closer relationship with the local population and the visiting public through their most significant affectivities. Therefore, the importance of a more effective musealization of the geosite for the development of tourism and the apprehension of this heritage by the population is considered, seeking to relate the musealization process as a fundamentally important means of communication in the process of interrelationship of geodiversity, heritage, and environment with society.