Gorges du Gardon

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The Gardon at Collias

The Gorges du Gardon are 22 kilometers long, eroded by the Gardon river, in the Cevennes in the French department of Gard . The gorge begins near the village of Russan and ends at Remoulins . The Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard leads across the gorge .

Formation of the gorge

The rock surrounding the gorge consists of Urgonia limestone from the Lower Cretaceous period. 130 to 115 million years ago, during the Barremian and Aptian , reef limestones were deposited here in a shallow sea. In the following period, increasingly from the younger Miocene , the river cut up to 100 m deep into the carbonate rocks and followed in part existing dividing surfaces that were created by tectonic movements as a result of the uplift of the Alps. Numerous caves at different height levels document the various stages of river erosion. Some of the caves are filled with Quaternary sediments.

The river has formed a meandering gorge in parts, which runs overall in a west-east direction. Its many side valleys are mostly dry today, just as numerous karst phenomena can be observed throughout the valley , such as ponors , karst springs , sinkholes , carts and karst caves ( Grotte-exsurgence du Colombier , Grotte de la Décamagne , Grotte-résurgence de Pâques , Grottes de Baume Latrone-Saint-Joseph ). Some of the caves are known for archaeological finds and prehistoric paintings, such as the Grotte de la Salpétrière near Remoulins, the Grotte Esquiso-Crapaou and the Grotte de Baume Latrone-Saint-Joseph .

The caves in the Gardon Gorge were used as a drinking water reservoir ( Grotte de la Citerne ), as a place of worship ( Grotte de Saint Vérédème ), meeting and festival area ( Grotte du Sambuc and Grotte de la Salpétrière ) and as a place of accommodation for people and animals.

The solid limestone parts have been quarried in numerous small quarries in the gorge since Roman times for the extraction of building material; The Pont du Gard, which crosses the gorge, was also built from it.

Attractions

The Gorges du Gardon are today mainly used for tourism, despite little infrastructure development. The well-preserved Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985 . In the Fournés pits , signs of erosion can be seen in the soft Cretan clay and limestone marls . In the open-air museum Mémoires de Garrigue , visitors are introduced to the original shrub heather landscape of the Cevennes, the garrigue , and how it is cultivated. The hermitage of Saint Veredemus (fr. Saint-Vérédème) at the Grotte de Saint-Vérédème or Grotte de la Baume is the oldest Christian building in Bas-Languedoc. It was built in the 8th century. The apse is decorated with wall paintings from the period. The gorge is popular with paddlers, climbers and hikers

nature

The relatively pristine landscape - with the typical dry scrubland vegetation on the plateau and sometimes quite lush vegetation on the damp valley floor, alternated by bare rocks on the shore and in the valley walls - is a nature reserve and was established in June 2006 as a Natura 2000 face classified (FR9110081); 7024 hectares have been placed under protection.
Numerous rare bird species such as the Bonelli's eagle breed in the gorge. Also Egyptian vultures and
short-toed eagles .
Since 2005, the Gorges du Gardon have been one of the 40 greatest natural attractions in France (Réseau des Grands Sites de France)

See also

literature

  • Bernard Gèze: Languedoc méditerranéen, Montagne Noire. Guides géologiques régionaux, 191 pages, Masson, Paris 1979. ISBN 2-225-64120-X
  • R. Di Castri, DW Goodall , RL Specht: Mediterranean type shrublands. Ecosystems of the World 11. Elsevier SPC Amsterdam, Oxford, New York, 1981. ISBN 0-444-41858-X

Individual evidence

  1. Interactive geological map of the BRGM , accessed on December 12, 2012
  2. Geological development ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 12, 2012  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / gardon.cilsia.fr
  3. Caves in the Gardon Gorge , accessed December 12, 2012
  4. Information on the Pont du Gard , accessed December 12, 2012
  5. Information on the Fournés pits , accessed on December 12, 2012
  6. Information in French ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 31, 2016  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / gardon.cilsia.fr
  7. http://www.gorgesdugardon.fr Information in French, accessed December 31, 2016
  8. Natura2000: Gorges du Gardon , accessed on December 31, 2016
  9. Grands sites de France: Gorges du Gardon  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 31, 2016@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.grandsitedefrance.com  

Web links

Commons : Gardon Gorge  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files