Dent de Morcles
| Dent de Morcles | ||
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 Grande Dent de Morcles and Petite Dent de Morcles as seen from Illarsaz |
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| height | 2969 m above sea level M. | |
| location | Vaud / Wallis , Switzerland | |
| Mountains | Vaudois Alps | |
| Dominance | 5.7 km → Grand Muveran | |
| Notch height | 465 m ↓ notch south-west of the Petit Muveran | |
| Coordinates | 571.97 thousand / 116492 | |
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The Dent de Morcles is a double peak north of Martigny and the westernmost mountain in the Vaud Alps in Switzerland . The Grande Dent de Morcles reaches a height of 2969 m above sea level. M. , the upstream Petite Dent de Morcles one of 2929 m above sea level. M. , together they are also referred to as Dents de Morcles . The border between the cantons of Vaud and Valais runs over both peaks .
The Dents de Morcles drop off very steeply in the west towards the Rhône valley. The Rhone has m at this point has a height of 440, corresponding to a height difference of more than 2,500 meters from the river to the peaks within a distance of slightly more than 3 km corresponds. Together with the Dents du Midi to the west of the Rhone, the Dents de Morcles form the gateway to the Valais. On the upper western flank of the mountain, the structure and folds of the Morcles ceiling (part of the Helveticum ) are well exposed.
To the south of the ridge, the Dents de Morcles are ice-free in summer, while the 1.5 km long Glacier des Martinets , which feeds the Avançon de Nant stream, extends to the northeast . Between the Dents de Morcles and the Grand Chavalard is located at 2135 m above sea level. M. the Lac de Fully, which was slightly dammed by a small dam. Its water is routed down a pressure line to the power station in Fully .
The Morcles fold
The summit of the Grande Dent de Morcles consists of a clearly visible fold of rock. Here, layers of chalk rock are tilted to about 180 ° and are positioned upside down in their chronostratigraphic sequence. The fold on the western flank of the mountain peak can be seen well from the Rhone Valley near Evionnaz .
The Morcles fold illustrates the complicated situation of the strata in the Valais Alps. For a long time, the scientists were unable to conclusively explain the irritating strata in the entire region, because strata appeared at a point where, according to theoretical assumptions, they should not be. Finally, the thrust and the extreme folds that had occurred over long periods of time were recognized. In the case of “wrong” positions of individual rock layers (younger ones are below older layers), one speaks of traffic thighs in this situation .
literature
- Marcel Burri : Get to know nature in Valais. The rocks . Editions Pillet, Martigny 1992
Web links
- Dent de Morcles on the ETHorama platform
- Dent de Morcles and Les Martinets (PDF; 3.7 MB). Geological description at swisstopo .
- Grande and Petite Dent de Morcles: tour reports at hikr.org