Massif CentralThe Massif Central (French pronunciation: [masif sɑ̃tʁal]) is a highland region in south-central France consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France. Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,000 years, these central mountains are separated from the Alps by a deep north–south cleft created by the Rhône river and known in French as the sillon rhodanien (literally "Rhône furrow").
VosgesThe Vosges ( , French:; German: Vogesen; Franconian and Alemannic German: Vogese) are a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and low mountain range of around 8,000 km (3,100 sq mi) in area.
Variscan orogenyThe Variscan orogeny or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoiccontinental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. It remains visible today as a series of isolated massifs, including the Ardennes, Bohemian Massif, Vosges-Black Forest, Odenwald, Armorican Massif, Cornubian Massif, Massif Central, Iberian System and Gennargentu Massif.
Drainage basinA drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the drainage divide, made up of a succession of elevated features, such as ridges and hills. A basin may consist of smaller basins that merge at river confluences, forming a hierarchical pattern.
Sedimentary basinSedimentary 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 creates a regional depression that provides accommodation space for accumulation of sediments.
EoceneThe Eocene (IPA: EE-ə-seen, EE-oh-) is a geological epoch that began about 56 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The end point of the Eocene is the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT), between 33.9 and 33.4 Ma. Precise boundaries between the epochs are sometimes given at 33.9 or 33.7 Ma. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch.
Armorican MassifThe Armorican Massif (French: Massif armoricain, pronounced) is a geologic massif that covers a large area in the northwest of France, including Brittany, the western part of Normandy and the Pays de la Loire. It is important because it is connected to Dover on the British side of the English Channel and there has been tilting back and forth that has controlled the geography on both sides. Its name comes from the old Armorica, a Gaul area between the rivers Loire and Seine.
FranceCountry primarily in Western EuropeFrance, officially the French Republic, is a country primarily located in Western Europe. Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean.
CalaisCalais (UK: KAL-ay, US: kal-AY, traditionally KAL-iss, French: [kalɛ] ) is a French major port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,585; that of the urban area is 144,488 (2022). Calais overlooks the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point in the English Channel, which is only 34 km (21 mi) wide here, and is the closest French town to England.
TriassicSubdivision of the Triassic according to the ICS, as of 2024.Vertical axis scale: Millions of years agoEtymologyName formalityFormalUsage informationCelestial bodyEarthRegional usageGlobal (ICS)Time scale(s) usedICS Time ScaleDefinitionChronological unitPeriodStratigraphic unitSystemTime span formalityFormalLower boundary definitionFirst appearance of the conodontHindeodus parvusLower boundary GSSPMeishan, Zhejiang, China31°04′47″N119°42′21″E / 31.0798°N 119.7058°E / 31.0798; 119.7058Lower GSSP ratified2001Upper boundary definitionFirst appearance of the ammonitePsiloceras spelae tirolicumUpper boundary GSSPKuhjoch section, Karwendel mountains, Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria47°29′02″N11°31′50″E / 47.4839°N 11.5306°E / 47.4839; 11.5306Upper GSSP ratified2010The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and a stratigraphic system that spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Ma.
French languageFrench (français or langue française) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, French and its closest relatives—the langues d'oïl, historically spoken in northern France and southern Belgium—descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. It was influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul and by the GermanicFrankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders.
CratonIn geology, a craton ( , , or ; from Ancient Greekκράτος (kratos)'strength') is an old and stable part of continental lithosphere (the Earth's two topmost layers, the crust and the lithospheric mantle). Having often survived cycles of merging and rifting of continents, cratons are generally found in the interiors of tectonic plates; the exceptions occur where geologically recent rifting events have separated cratons and created passive margins along their edges.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.