Haudivillers () is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Oise Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,41 ...

department in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Geography

The territory of Haudivillers covers 9.79 km² (3.78 square miles) at an average altitude of 131 meters above sea level. The town is located on a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

delimited by the small

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

s of three rivers : the southwestern Thérain, the northwestern Liovette and eastern Brescia. This flat area is part of the Pays de Chaussée plateau, central component of the vast Picard plateau. Its landscape is dominated by open fields dotted with woodlands. The municipality is bordered by dry valleys, called "Fonds". These ancient tributaries of the Brèche form, in the north, le Fond de l'Argilière, in the south the Fond du Fay and the Fond Genetel and in the west the Fond de Lafraye. The town is organized around two county roads: the D125 and D9, crossing it respectively from east to west and north to south. On these routes, taking the name of the villages main streets (rue de l'Eglise, rue de la Poste, rue de la Grande Valley), connect eight perpendicular streets joined by other streets and alleys. A

power line An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy across large distances. It consists of one or more uninsulated electrical cables (commonly multiples of three for three-p ...

(400 kV) crosses the western part of the territory following a north-south axis.

Geology

On the geological map Haudivillers is located on the northern extension of the

Paris Basin The Paris Basin is one of the major geological regions of France. It developed since the Triassic over remnant uplands of the Variscan orogeny (Hercynian orogeny). The sedimentary basin, no longer a single drainage basin, is a large sag in th ...

. It basement is composed mainly of

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

. Two abandoned white chalk

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

: les Carrières and le Rindet form an underground cavity north of the town. This chalk is covered with a thick silt

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

of about four meters. More precisely the village is built on a yellowish sand

klippe 350px, Schematic overview of a thrust system. The shaded material is called a window_(geology).html"_;"title="nappe._The_erosional_hole_is_called_a__window_(geology)">window_or_fenster._The_klippe_is_the_isolated_block_of_the_nappe_overlying_aut ...

. One of the original names of the commune is ''Hildinivillare''. It named the location of a Roman villa or a group of dwellings (

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

). This name evolved over the centuries, becoming ''Haudivillare'', ''Houdiviller'', ''Audiviller'', ''Haudivillé'', ''Haudiviller'' and finally ''Haudivillers''.

Geography

Geology

See also