Geologic Highway Map of Rio de Janeiro State: a product to stimulate geotourism and broadcast Rio de Janeiro's geodiversity

Abstract

Geologic Highway Maps are used in several countries to disseminate, inform and entertain travelers who drive along main highways. They bring, in a language style accessible to the general public, information about the observable nature along roads, showing local and regional geodiversity on a map, in geological sections and at specially chosen stops. The remarkable geodiversity of the Rio de Janeiro state is considered to be the result of a complex geological and geomorphological evolutionary history, resulting in several geotouristic attractions. Although there are many important initiatives for dissemination of Rio de Janeiro's geodiversity, such as the Caminhos Geologicos Project, the Rio de Janeiro state still remains with a wide geotouristic potential yet to be explored. In this sense, this work presents the Geologic Highway Map of the Rio de Janeiro State (GHMRJ), in its final stage of design, as a product to propagate geodiversity and encourage geotourism. GHMRJ is an unprecedented initiative in Brazil, and a new way of publicizing geotourism bringing geoconservation of Rio de Janeiro's geodiversity into the spotlight.