The Gavarnie Cirque : A Celebrated nature’s colossus Monique Fort To cite this version: Monique Fort. The Gavarnie Cirque : A Celebrated nature’s colossus. Springer Science+Business Media. Landscapes and Landforms of France, World Geomorphological Landscapes, p. 115-126, 2013, 10.1007/978-94-007-7022-5_12. hal-01197102 HAL Id: hal-01197102 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01197102 Submitted on 16 Sep 2015 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Metadata of the chapter that will be visualized online Chapter Title The Gavarnie Cirque: A Celebrated “Nature’s Colossus” Copyright Year 2014 Copyright Holder Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Corresponding Author Family Name Fort Particle Given Name Monique Suffix Division Department of Geography Organization University Diderot-Sorbonne-Paris-Cité, UFR GHSS Case 7001 – CNRS UMR 8586 PRODIG Address Rue Thomas Mann 5, 75205, Paris, France Email [email protected] Abstract Surrounded by peaks at height more than 3,000 m, the Gavarnie cirque forms, with two other cirques and the adjacent Spanish canyons, an exceptional landscape recognised in 1997 as a UNESCO World Heritage site for both its natural and cultural values. It is an outstanding geomorphosite straddling the Central Pyrenees, famous for its 1,500-m-high limestone amphitheatre, its waterfalls, and the Brèche de Roland. It results from a long evolution, including the formation of the Pyrenean range, the development of Quaternary glaciers, and a long history of human occupation and exchanges across the French/ Spanish border. It has always been an inspiring place for many artists and is much appreciated by tourists and climbers. Keywords Calcareous cirque - Thrust nappes - Pyrenean glaciation - Waterfalls (separated by “-”) The Gavarnie Cirque: A Celebrated 1 [AU1] “Nature’s Colossus” 2 12 Monique Fort 3 Abstract Surrounded by peaks at height more than 3,000 m, the Gavarnie cirque forms, with two other cirques and the adjacent Spanish canyons, an exceptional landscape recognised in 1997 as a UNESCO World Heritage site for both its natural and cultural values. It is an outstanding geomorphosite straddling the Central Pyrenees, famous for its 1,500-m-high limestone amphitheatre, its waterfalls, and the Brèche de Roland. It results from a long evolution, including the formation of the Pyrenean range, the development of Quaternary glaciers, and a long history of human occupation and exchanges across the French/Spanish border. It has always been an inspiring place for many artists and is much appreciated by tourists and climbers. Keywords Calcareous cirque • Thrust nappes • Pyrenean glaciation • Waterfalls 4 12.1 Introduction Adjacent to the Mont Perdu (3,352 m), it is a place of legend 20 and praise, where coexist a traditional pastoral landscape and 21 5 The Gavarnie cirque is a unique site along the Pyrenean a tourism-oriented economy sustained by both Catholic 22 6 range. Celebrated by many artists at the end of the nineteenth pilgrims from Lourdes and sportsmen attracted by this 23 7 century, it is one of the most visited places in the Pyrenees. “Nature’s Colossus” (V. Hugo). 24 8 Surrounded by peaks at height more than 3,000 m on the 9 French/Spanish border, the Gavarnie cirque forms, with the 10 two cirques of Estaubé and Troumouse and the adjacent 12.2 Geographical and Geological Setting 25 11 Aragonese canyons and the cirque of Barrosa, an exceptional 12 landscape recognised in 1997 as a UNESCO World Heritage When coming from the north of France, after the vast Landes 26 13 site for both its natural and cultural values (Fig. 12.1). It is plains or the Lannemezan plateau, the traveller abuts against 27 14 sited in the central part of the collisional Pyrenean system, compact, continuous relief towered by the Astronomic 28 15 where a maximum shortening has occurred, as revealed by Observatory of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre. When getting 29 16 the thrust units exposed within the slopes surrounding the closer, the Pyrenean range rises like higher and higher waves. 30 17 cirque. Both karstic processes and glacial erosion contrib- It becomes difficult to clearly separate the mountain front 31 18 uted to shape this outstanding, deep natural amphitheatre that from its foothills (administratively, it is the 500 m contour 32 19 “resembles nothing that is found anywhere else” (V. Hugo). line which sets the limits); it is also difficult to discern those 33 valleys that permit to penetrate deeper into the mountain and 34 reach the top of this great barrier. The Gavarnie cirque stands 35 M. Fort (*) in the very upper part of the Gave de Pau catchment, locally 36 Department of Geography, University Diderot-Sorbonne-Paris-­Cité, called the Lavedan country (Fig. 12.2). From upstream of 37 UFR GHSS Case 7001 – CNRS UMR 8586 PRODIG, Rue Thomas Mann 5, 75205 Paris, France Lourdes, this is a fairly deep valley, which also leads to other 38 e-mail: [email protected] prestigious sites of the Central Pyrenees, i.e. Cauterêts ­valley, 39 M. Fort and M.-F. André (eds.), Landscapes and Landforms of France, World Geomorphological Landscapes, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7022-5_12, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014 M. Fort Fig. 12.1 The Gavarnie cirque seen from the northern trail up to the Refuge des Espuguettes (Credit: M. Fort). Note the stone circles, traces of earlier settlements of shepherds coming from both sides of the French–Spanish border 40 with the Pont d’Espagne and the Gaube lake at the foot of the high elevation by extreme climate, steep landforms, and 59 41 steep Vignemale north face. bedrock nature (predominance of limestone). 60 42 12.2.1 At the Crossing of Climatic Influences 12.2.2 Where Spain Tightens Against France 61 43 The Gavarnie cirque and adjacent landforms correspond to The east–west trending Pyrenean mountains represent the 62 44 the central part of the Pyrenees, where a number of >3,000 m westernmost end of the Alpine–Himalayan collisional system 63 45 high peaks are present: Mont Perdu, Astazou (3,012 m), (Fig. 12.4). They are the result of a long evolution during 64 46 Marboré (3,250 m), Taillon (3,144 m), and Vignemale which the boundary of the Iberian and European plates 65 47 (3,298 m), to name a few (Fig. 12.3). This dominating relief evolved until the final compressional stage of the Pyrenean 66 48 plays an important role in the climatic regime and determines orogenic growth (Late Cretaceous to Tertiary times), respon- 67 49 a sharp contrast between the influences from the Atlantic to sible for the present-day asymmetry of the mountains. 68 50 the North and the West and those from the Mediterranean to Indeed, the steep, narrower (≈45 km) northern flank on the 69 51 the Southeast. In the Lavedan valley, westerlies command French side contrasts sharply with the gently sloping 70 52 humid fluxes and abundant precipitation, yet the topographic southern Spanish side, where ridges elevation progressively 71 53 contrasts may locally create rain-shadow effects and tem- declines down to the Ebro basin (≈100 km). 72 54 perature inversions. Mediterranean influences, locally known The general structure of the Pyrenees displays a fanlike, 73 55 as the “balaguere”, a foehn-like wind in Lavedan, bring flowerlike arrangement: large thrust nappes lean towards the 74 56 sudden heat that generally precedes heavy rains or snowfalls. north on the northern side, while they lean towards the 75 57 These contrasts are expressed in the rich, endemic flora and south on the southern side. They are flanked on both sides by 76 58 fauna specific of each altitudinal belt and are accentuated at two foreland basins, the Aquitanian and the Ebro basins 77 12 The Gavarnie Cirque: A Celebrated “Nature’s Colossus” Fig. 12.2 Map of the UNESCO World Heritage zone: on the Spanish peripheral zone of the Pyrenees National Park. Thick solid line marks side, it includes the totality of Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte the international boundary Perdido, whereas the French side extends over the core zone and the 78 (Fig. 12.5a). In fact, as revealed by extensive seismic reflection the uplift appears to have started in the Eocene period, but it 101 79 profiling, the European wedge is overlain by the upper continued during the Oligocene when most of the deforma- 102 80 Iberian wedge, whereas at the lower crustal levels, the tec- tion occurred. 103 81 tonic wedge of the European crust has indented the Iberian [AU2]82 plate (Choukroune and ECORS team 1989; Teixell 1998). 83 This tectonic wedging at different crust levels is one major 12.3 Landform Evolution 104 84 thickening mechanism, at the origin of orogeny and uplift of 85 the Pyrenees. 12.3.1 Long-Term Evolution 105 86 The Gavarnie cirque area is sited in a central position, the 87 axial zone, where a maximum shortening occurred and The Gavarnie and two adjacent cirques of Estaubé and 106 88 where this geologic architecture is the most distinct and Troumouse are the result of a long and complex history, 107 89 nearly horizontally emplaced. It is mostly composed of the which started well before the cold periods of the Quaternary 108 90 Gavarnie–Mont Perdu nappe complex, a series of thrust units era.