Saint-Martin-le-Pin (; Limousin: ''Sent Martin lo Pench'' or ''Sent Martin lu Pench'' ) is a commune in the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named af ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by t ...

in southwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is part of the Regional Natural Park Périgord Limousin.

Geography

Saint-Martin-le-Pin is situated along the D 94 about 5 kilometers northwest of

Nontron Nontron (; oc, Nontronh ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Dordogne Departments of France, department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. History The name Nontron probably derives from the Gallo-Roman personal name ''Nantironius ...

. The boundary with Nontron to the southeast is the ''Ruisseau des Vergnes'', a southwest-flowing right tributary of the

Bandiat The Bandiat () is a small river in western France, a left tributary of the Tardoire. It flows through the Haute-Vienne, Dordogne and Charente departments. It is long. Geography The Bandiat begins its course just south of the Puy Chauvet (488 m), ...

. The commune's territory reaches the Bandiat river itself in the southwest, forming a natural boundary with the neighbouring communes

Saint-Martial-de-Valette Saint-Martial-de-Valette (; oc, Sent Marçau de Valeta) is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Dordogne department The following is a list of the 503 comm ...

in the south and Lussas-et-Nontronneau in the southwest. The commune's boundary to

Javerlhac-et-la-Chapelle-Saint-Robert Javerlhac-et-la-Chapelle-Saint-Robert (; oc, Javerlhac e La Chapela Sent Robert) is a Communes of France, commune in the Dordogne Departments of France, department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Javerlhac is in the Parc naturel ré ...

in the northwest and Le Bourdeix farther north is the river, also a smaller right tributary of the Bandiat. Saint-Martin-le-Pin can also be reached via the D 75 following the Bandiat valley from

to Javerlhac. Besides the main village there are many hamlets and single farms for example ''Ars'', ''Blanchetière'', ''Chantemerle'', ''Chez Thomas'', ''Crachat'', ''Jourdonnières'', ''La Borderie'', ''La Combe au Cros'', ''La Tuilière'', ''Le Moulin de chez Jouanaud'', ''Les Cazes'', ''Lespinasse'', ''Loradour'', ''Mérignac'', ''Pas Brouillet'', ''Ribeyrolle'', ''Talivaud'', and ''Tranchecouyère''.

Geology

The commune's territory is underlain in its totality by

Variscan The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Variscan'', comes f ...

basement rocks (

Piégut-Pluviers Granodiorite The Piégut-Pluviers Granodiorite is situated at the northwestern edge of the Variscan Massif Central in France. Its cooling age has been determined as 325 ± 14 million years BP (Mississippian age, Upper Mississippian, Serpukhovian). Geographical ...

). Transgressing the basement from the West are

lias Lias may refer to: Geology * Lias Formation, a geologic formation in France *Lias Group, a lithostratigraphic unit in western Europe * Early Jurassic, an epoch People * Godfrey Lias, British author * Mohd Shamsudin Lias (born 1953), Malaysian ...

sic sediments belonging to the Aquitanian Basin. The base conglomerate can be seen near ''La Chapoulie''. Stratigraphically higher follow

arkose Arkose () or arkosic sandstone is a detrital sedimentary rock, specifically a type of sandstone containing at least 25% feldspar. Arkosic sand is sand that is similarly rich in feldspar, and thus the potential precursor of arkose. Quartz is c ...

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

s and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

s. A NW-SE striking fault zone originating in Nontron traverses the territory and raises the Northeastern basement block. Movements along this fault zone must have been going on well into the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

, because one can observe stream rejuvenation along some of the southwestward-draining creeks. This fault zone is strongly mineralised in mainly

baryte Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate ( Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), ...

, but there is also

galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cryst ...

sphalerite Sphalerite (sometimes spelled sphaelerite) is a sulfide mineral with the chemical formula . It is the most important ore of zinc. Sphalerite is found in a variety of deposit types, but it is primarily in Sedimentary exhalative deposits, sedimen ...

pyrite The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Iron, FeSulfur, S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic Luster (mineralogy), lust ...

and the rather rare

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...

mineral greenockite. This fault zone has been mined in the past, the shaft of the ''mine de la Mairie'' still can be seen in the village. Associated with the ores is an intensive recrystallization and silicification of the country rocks along the fault line. Between 1825 and 1850

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

was mined near ''Talivaud'' in the contact region between the arkoses and the overlying ''Sidérolithique'',

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

-rich

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

sediments. The limestones sometimes develop

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

phenomena like caves (near ''Blanchetière''). The floodplain of the Bandiat is infilled by alluvial

sands with occasional intercalated layers of polished quartz pebbles.

History

The romanesque village church Saint-Martin dates back to the 12th century and has been classified in 1942 as

Monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

. Remarkable is its entry. Before 1789 the commune was called Saint-Martin-le-Peint.Cassini map on Géoportail
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Saint Martin Saint Martin may refer to: People * Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316–397), Bishop of Tours, France * Saint Martin of Braga (c. 520–580), archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Gallaecia (now Braga in Portugal) * Pope Martin I (598–655) * Saint Mart ...

therefore was not associated with the pine tree, but rather was "painted".

Population

The population declined after 1968, but has remained stable since 1975.

Gallery

Image:St-Martin-Pin 06.JPG, Entry Image:Bandiat Saint-Martin-le-Pin Ars aval.JPG, The

river downstream from the bridge near ''Ars''