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The Demoiselles Coiffées de Pontis is a rock formation in Pontis, near Embrun in the 
French Alps
The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such a ...
, located on the edge of the Lac de Serre-Ponçon
The Lac de Serre-Ponçon (; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Lac de Sèrra Ponçon''), known in English as the Lake of Serre-Ponçon, is a reservoir on the border between the Hautes-Alpes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence departments, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ...
. The formation consists of a number of hoodoos, described as a "set of narrowly-tapered rock columns....topped with a large rock balanced neatly on the tip." In French, such structures are referred to as ''Demoiselles Coiffées'' ("ladies with hats"), or more often ''Cheminées de Fées'' ("fairy chimneys"). In Théus, there is a concentration referred to as ''La Salle de Bal des Demoiselles Coiffées'' ("the ballroom of ladies with hats"), although these structures also exist in isolation. Two other significant sites exist 1 kilometer away on a mountainside near Remollon.
The ballroom is one of the best-known and most attractive examples in France of the structure; an earlier commentator referred to them as "some fifty bizarre columns with hairdos."
The Tour de France has used the road past the Demoiselles Coiffées de Pontis on the last mountain stage (July 20) of the 2017 tour and in 2024 (18 July). The Tour visited the location again in 2024 (July 18).
Formation
These structures arose out of Würmianmoraine
A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and Rock (geology), rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a gla ...
s: heterogenous, non-stratified
Stratification may refer to:
Mathematics
* Stratification (mathematics), any consistent assignment of numbers to predicate symbols
* Data stratification in statistics
Earth sciences
* Stable and unstable stratification
* Stratification, or st ...
, and poorly consolidated conglomerate. When erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...
exposed a resistant block, water would run around it and erode the finer periphery, leaving a pedestal below that resistant point. The summit acts as an umbrella, preventing the structure from being further eroded by rain. The water contained mineral salts which hardened and calcified the columns.
See also
* Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area * Đavolja Varoš * Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness *Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located approximately southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, near Cochiti, New Mexico, Cochiti Pueblo. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Cochiti Pueblo tribe ...
* Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park () is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along ...
* List of rock formations
A rock formation is an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock outcrop. Rock formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock. The term ''rock formation'' can also refer to specific sedim ...
* Hoodoo (geology)
A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, or earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock (geology), rock formed by erosion. Hoodoos typically consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each ...
References
Rock formations of France Landforms of Hautes-Alpes Tourist attractions in Hautes-Alpes Landforms of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur {{HautesAlpes-geo-stub