The management of a UNESCO Global Geopark (UGGp) requires a vast wealth of miscellaneous scientific knowledge that can be successfully organised using a Geographical Information System (GIS). This paper presents a pragmatic GIS database to assist in the suitable governance of the Courel Mountains UGGp (2017) in Northwest Spain. The database is structured in 66 coverages compiled from public sources and previous works or produced through traditional mapping (combining fieldwork and photointerpretation) and GIS tools. The acquired data was later homogenised and validated by a multidisciplinary team and archived in independent coverages. Forty thematic maps illustrate the broad range of cartographic information included in the GIS database. Among them, 25 basic maps provide an overview of the UGGp and 15 new maps focus on crosscutting and technical issues. All maps illustrate the huge potential of GIS to create new resources combining coverages and adapting the legend according to their purpose and audience. The database facilitates the suitable publishing of consistent outputs (e.g., brochures, books, panels, webpages, web serves), as well as the elaboration of technical data to assist the park management. The database furnishes information on the design of education actions, touristic routes, activities and Geopark facilities. The GIS database is also a supportive tool for scientific research and provides the necessary knowledge to conduct geoconservation actions based on land use, geological hazards and the occurrence of natural and cultural heritages. Altogether, the GIS database constitutes a powerful instrument for policy-making, facilitating the identification and evaluation of alternative strategy plans.

The intensive variables, geochemical, mineralogical, and petrogenetic constraints of the Iberian peraluminous rare metal granites (RMGs), many of them unknown, are presented. The mineral chemistry of ore and gangue minerals, whole rock analyses, geothermobarometry, melt water and phosphorus contents, mass balance, and Rayleigh modeling were performed to achieve these objectives. These procedures allow us to distinguish two main contrasting granitic types: Nb-Ta-rich and Nb-Ta-poor granites. The former have lower crystallization temperatures, higher water contents, and lower emplacement pressures than Nb-Ta-poor granites. Nb-Ta-rich granites also have higher fluoride contents, strong fractionation into geochemical twins, higher Na contents, and different evolutionary trends. At the deposit scale, the fractional crystallization of micas properly explains the variation in the Ta/Nb ratio in both Nb-Ta-poor and Nb-Ta-rich RMGs, although in higher-grade granites, the variation is not as clear due to the action of fluids. Fluid phase separation processes especially occurred in the Nb-Ta rich granites, thus transporting halogens and metals that increased the grades in the top and sometimes in the core of granites. Gas-driven filter pressing processes facilitated the migration of fluid and melt near solidus melt in Nb-Ta-rich granites. The geochemical signature of the Iberian rare metal granites mainly follows the trends of two-mica granites and P-rich cordierite granites, but also of granodiorites.