Geodiversidade e Estrutura da Paisagem: Riqueza Composicional e Fragmentação de Usos e Cobertura do Solo do Geoparque Mundial da Unesco Quarta Colônia (RS/BR)

Geodiversity can be understood as the structural foundation of landscapes, playing a significant role in shaping ecological processes and the spatial organization of land uses. In territories recognized as geoparks, the analysis of spatial relationships between abiotic heterogeneity and land occupation can support territorial planning and management strategies. This study aims to quantify the internal statistical consistency of physical landscape components and investigate their spatial associations with land-use and land-cover patterns in the Quarta Colônia UNESCO Global Geopark (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). The methodological approach was based on the application of a 2 × 2 km regular grid as the spatial unit of analysis, within which a Geodiversity Index was constructed from the richness of geological, geomorphological, soil, and hydrographic classes. Patterns of anthropogenic occupation were assessed under two metric scenarios: compositional richness of land-use classes (multipart arrangements) and spatial fragmentation (singlepart arrangements), represented by the number of patches. Relationships between variables were evaluated using Spearman’s correlation and bivariate Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA). Results indicate a strong positive correlation among geodiversity components, particularly between geology, geomorphology, and soil variables, supporting the methodological robustness of the index. Areas with higher abiotic diversity tend to exhibit greater compositional richness of land uses, whereas fragmentation metrics show lower statistical dependence on physical landscape structure. Spatial modelling (LISA) identified zones of co-occurrence and statistical contrast between physical heterogeneity and land-use intensity. This study demonstrates that the integration of abiotic metrics, landscape ecology principles, and spatial statistics enables robust quantitative interpretations with potential applications in territorial planning instruments within geoparks.