During the Triassic period, the French region of Provence subsided and was covered by the sea, leaving thick layers of various limestone deposits. Several million years later, with the arrival of the Jurassic period, the area was covered by a warm shallow sea, which allowed the growth of various Corals. The Cretaceous period saw what is now Basse Provence being raised and the sea reaching the current location of the Alps, which were themselves erected during the tertiary era. As a result of the large scale geological activity resulting from this, many of the Jurassic limestone deposits fractured, forming relief with valleys and other such features. Indeed, it is to this epoch that the origins of the Verdon Gorge can be traced. The dawn of the Quaternary period witnessed large scale glaciation, transforming water pockets and lakes into unstoppable rivers of ice, which remodeled the topography, scouring and striating the landscape. At the end of this activity, erosion by rivers continued, forming the Gorge as it is today. The Verdon’s river bed was scoured for a second time of the accumulated coral and limestone sediments, by a water delivery rate nearing 2000 to 3000 cubic metres per second.
Geography
The source of the Verdon is close to the col d'Allos hill in the Trois Eveches mountain range, from where it continues, flowing into the Durance river near Vinon-sur-Verdon after traveling 175 kilometres. The most interesting part of this journey is found between Castellane and the Pont du Galetas, on the lac de Sainte-Croix. Some decades ago, this Lake used to be the large plain of Les Salles-sur-Verdon, before the construction of a reservoir created by the erecting of the Sainte-Croix dam. At the time of the raising of the water level in 1973, the old village des Salles was evacuated by force, destroyed and inundated. The church was dynamited, as was the rest of the village, which has been reconstructed higher up the valley as a more modern settlement, to the great displeasure of its inhabitants. Today, it is the youngest village in France.
For some distance the Verdon Gorge forms the border between the départements of Var to the south and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence to the north in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur région.
This region, between Castellan and the Lac de Sainte-Croix is called the ‘’’Gorges du Verdon’’’; ‘’’Verdon Gorge’’’. It is split into three distinct parts:
The “Prégorges” (‘pre-gorge’) which goes from Castellane to Pont de Soleils
The Gorge itself which goes from Pont de Soleils to l'Imbut, and
The Canyon which goes from l’Imbut to the Pont de Galetas.
The Verdon Gorge is narrow and deep, with depths of 250 to 700 metres and widths of 6 to 100 metres at the level of the Verdon river, and 200 to 1500 metres from one side of the Gorge to the other at the summit.
Hiking and scenic walks
The most famous and beautiful hikes in the gorge include:
Le sentier (pathway) de Martel
Le sentier de l'Imbut
Le sentier du Bastidon
Le belvédère de Rancoumas par le pont de Tusset (the Rancoumas panoramic viewpoint near the Tusset Bridge)
The most famous of these, the Sentier Martel, was laid out in 1928 by the Touring Club de France, and given its present name in 1930 to honor the explorer Édouard-Alfred Martel (1859-1938). Martel had visited the Verdon in 1905 as an employee of the Southeast Electricity Company, carrying out precise geological surveys of the river. On August 11, he and his team (explorer Armand Janet, schoolmaster Isidore Blanc, geographer Cuvelier, plaus Baptistin Flory, Fernand Honorat, Prosper Marcel, and Tessier Zurcher) began an expedition of the region by boat and foot (especially when one of the boats became unusable). They discovered a narrow corridor which Martel named "Styx." When they arrived at Imbut (meaning "narrow" or "funnel" in Provençal) Martel wished to abandon the expedition, but his comrades encouraged him to continue. They entered the canyon proper and discovered more passages and rock formations; their successful arrival at the Pas de Galetas marked the completion of the first expedition of the Verdon Canyon.
Other expeditions to the Verdon included Martel's team the following year; Robert de Joly who in 1928 was the first to completely cross the Verdon Gorge, passing over the Imbut; explorer and filmmaker Albert Mahuzier in 1938 and 1939; a group of Scouts in 1945 and the Canoe Club of France in 1946; and Roger Verdegen, who made several expeditions in a boat made from animal hides and natural rubber, and became an authority on the Verdon.
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