The Cirque de Navacelles is large erosion

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

al landform, an incised meander, located towards the southern edge of the Massif Central

Massif Central

The Massif Central is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaux....

 mountain range in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is located near Saint-Maurice-Navacelles

Saint-Maurice-Navacelles

Saint-Maurice-Navacelles is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.-See also:*Communes of the Hérault department* Cirque de Navacelles* Vis River* Château de Saint-Maurice-References:*...

 and Blandas

Blandas

Blandas is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.-Population:...

 between the Hérault

Hérault

Hérault is a department in the south of France named after the Hérault river.-History:Hérault is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

 département and the Gard

Gard

Gard is a département located in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.The department is named after the River Gard, although the formerly Occitan name of the River Gard, Gardon, has been replacing the traditional French name in recent decades, even among French speakers.- History...

 département.

The cirque is isolated, with only a few small villages in the surrounding area. With the 2004 completion of the Millau Viaduct

Millau Viaduct

The Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the river Tarn near Millau in southern France. Designed by the British architect Norman Foster and French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux, it is the tallest bridge in the world, with one mast's summit at . It is the...

 and the A75

A75 autoroute

The A75 is an autoroute in France.Known also as la Méridienne, it is a developmental project with the aim of speeding up and reducing the cost of car travel from Paris southwards, and apart from the Millau Viaduct, it is entirely free for the between Clermont-Ferrand and Béziers...

 motorway linking Clermont-Ferrand

Clermont-Ferrand

Clermont-Ferrand is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of 140,700 . Its metropolitan area had 409,558 inhabitants at the 1999 census. It is the prefecture of the Puy-de-Dôme department...

 and Pézenas

Pézenas

Pézenas is a commune in the Hérault département in Languedoc-Roussillon, southern France. At the 1999 census, its population was 7443.-Name:...

, tourism of the region that includes Cirque de Navacelles has increased.

Fluvial processes in the cirque

The area is an example of a dissected plateau

Dissected plateau

A dissected plateau is a plateau area that has been severely eroded so that the relief is sharp. Such an area may be referred to as mountainous, but dissected plateaus are distinguishable from orogenic mountain belts by the lack of folding, metamorphism, extensive faulting, or magmatic activity...

 in which the Vis River

Vis River

The Vis is a 57.9 km long river in south-central France, in the Languedoc-Roussillon région, right tributary of the Hérault River. Its source is in the Cévennes, near the village of Alzon. It flows between the Causse du Larzac and the Causse de Blandas into the Hérault département and the Gard...

 eroded a deep channel through the base of the valley, creating an incised meander which eventually eroded through creating a cut-off at the neck of the loop. This left an oxbow lake

Oxbow lake

An oxbow lake is a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off to create a lake. This landform is called an oxbow lake for the distinctive curved shape, named after part of a yoke for oxen. In Australia, an oxbow lake is called a billabong, derived...

 which later dried up, leaving deposits of silt

Silt

Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...

 and peat

Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...

. This created what is the only patch of arable land for many miles around.

Road network

Roads in the area are very poorly maintained and are only wide enough for one vehicle. In order to pass the landform, a dangerous, but exhilarating, road which weaves down into the valley and clings to the sheer cliff face on the way back up must be braved. This journey is one of the draws for tourism in the area.

External links

• http://www.stacey.peak-media.co.uk/pyrenees/Navacelles/Navacelles.htm