The Sidobre is a mountainous area located in the south of the
Massif central, in central
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. It consists of a plateau made of
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
, 15.3 km long, 6.6 km wide and covered with forests. Its highest point is in the ''
lieu-dit
''Lieu-dit'' (; plural: ''lieux-dits'') (literally ''location-said'', "named place") is a French language, French toponymic term for a small geographical area bearing a traditional name. The name usually refers to some characteristic of the plac ...
'' “Le Patau” (707 m).
Location
It is located in the
Tarn department, at the South-Western end of the
Massif central, between Lacrouzette, Ferrières, Saint-Salvy-de-la-Balme and Lafontasse, surrounded by the following natural regions :
* East : the Mounts of Lacaune
* South : the
Montagne Noire
The Montagne Noire (; , known as the 'Black Mountain' in English) is a mountain range in central southern France. It is located at the southwestern end of the Massif Central at the juncture of the Tarn, Hérault and Aude departments. Its highe ...
* West : territory of
Castres
Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (adminis ...
Geology
The granite of the Sidobre is a
plutonic rock
Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form ''intrusions'', such as batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks.Intrusive RocksIntrusive rocks accessdate: March ...
resulting from a Hercynian intrusion dated back (using the
Rubidium-Strontium method) to 304 ± 8
Ma. The magma cooled down slowly and crystallised at a depth of 7.5 to 20 km. It eventually came to the surface with the erosion of the
Cambrian
The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...
metamorphic rocks.
In the central part of the ''massif'', the granite is a slightly
porphyric granodiorite
Granodiorite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar.
The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gra ...
, hence its blue tints, while the outer part is essentially composed of
monzonite
Monzonite is an igneous intrusive rock, formed by slow cooling of underground magma that has a moderate silica content and is enriched in alkali metal oxides. Monzonite is composed mostly of plagioclase and alkali feldspar.
Syenodiorite is an ...
.
Sites
Originally composed by one single piece of rock, the Sidobre was cracked by the
Pyrenean orogeny, thus becoming more exposed to the
rhexistasy, which explain the remarkable natural forms and constructions of the site.
The Sidobre, while just adjacent to it, is totally independent from the
Montagne Noire
The Montagne Noire (; , known as the 'Black Mountain' in English) is a mountain range in central southern France. It is located at the southwestern end of the Massif Central at the juncture of the Tarn, Hérault and Aude departments. Its highe ...
. They are separated by the
sedimentary basin
Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of sediments have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock They form when long-term subsidence ...
of
Castres
Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (adminis ...
and the channel of the river
Thoré
The Thoré () is a river in the Hérault and Tarn departments in southern France. Its source is in the northern part of Rieussec. It flows generally northwest. It is a left tributary of the Agout, into which it flows between Navès and Castres ...
”.
This stunning site, with its dozens of huge strange-shaped rocks, is unique in Europe (other sites exist in France, but in a much smaller scale), and has inspired many legends and tales.
Image:Sidobre Peyro Clabado1.jpg, Le Peyro Clabado, on the commune of Lacrouzette
Image:Sidobre Peyro Clabado2.jpg, Le Peyro Clabado
Image:Sidobre Roc Oie.jpg, Le Roc de l'Oie (« The Rock of the Goose »)
Image:Sidobre Saut Truite.jpg, Waterfall in the Sidobre
Image:Rocher tremblant sept faux.jpg, Trembling rock in Sept-Faux
Economy
The Sidobre is an important zone of quarrying, representing half of the granite production in France, with about 1,200 employees and 100 companies. Because of competition from China, there has been a steady decrease in the number of quarries since the 1950s, with barely fifteen nowadays, though these have grown bigger.
The granite is used for many purposes: pavements, airport runways, funerary art...
While mass tourism is still uncommon in the area,
local tourism also contributes to the Sidobre's economy.
The site and its environment have been placed under the protection of the
Haut-Languedoc Regional Nature Park.
See also
*
Tourism in Tarn
The Tarn (department), Tarn department is located in the southwest of France.
Statistics
In 2009, there were:
* Nightly rentals: 8.6 million
* Beds available: 23,100
* Business hotels represented 305,000 tourists for a total of 470,200 nights
...
External links
Sidobre-information
{{Authority control
Massif Central
Geography of Tarn (department)