Description : Scheduled on October 21th, 2016. Full-day tour, return around 19:00 pm. 60€ extra night included.
Geosciences Montpellier can only accommodate a small group so only about 30 people (max) may register. First come, first served ! The 20-21th hotel night (and diner) will be taken at St-Bauzilles-de-Putois, 40 km north of Montpellier, at the Auberge de la Filature.
The Pyrenean belt in the Languedoc and the opening of the "Golfe du Lion" :
The Pic St Loup : This spectacular mountain marks the northernmost front of the Pyrenean tectonics in Languedoc. The faulted and folded massive Jurassic limestones overthrust Tertiary continental and lacustrine syntectonic deposits of the Saint Martin de Londres basin.
The Cevennes fault zone : This major SW-NE oriented fault zone is well expressed in the morphology, making the main topographic step that bounds the "grands Causses" plateau. Its complex tectonic history begins at the end of the Paleozoic. During the Tertiary, left lateral strike slip displacements accomodate the compressional Pyrenean tectonics. Then, opening of the Golfe du Lion rejuvenate the Faille des Cevennes as a normal fault. This extensional tectonics is responsible for the SW-NE oriented grabens that control elongated Oligocene-Miocene continental basins.
The Lodève basin and the Salagou Neck : The Lodève Permian basin synrift sequence is represented by thick stacked climate-controled playa cycles which have been constrained by structural, sedimentological, geochemical and paleontological processes. Fossil prints of Permian pre-mammalian reptilians are well preserved and can be observed in the muddy sediments of the basin. The Tertiary volcanic activity of the "chainon de l'Esclandorgue" marks the recent tectonic and morphologic evolution of the "Bassin de Lodeve" region.
Equipment : At this period of the year, weather is not always predictable. You should definitely have a rain jacket, a warm sweater and good shoes with you, as well as both a sunhat and a warmer hat just in case. In case of very, very bad weather an alternative program will be scheduled.
