Massif de la Clape
The Massif de la Clape or Montagne de la Clape, is a small limestone mountain range on the French Mediterranean coast. It covers and is located in the department of Aude in Occitanie. It lies between the city of Narbonne and the sea. Besides Narbonne, the towns of Armissan, Vinassan, and Fleury are located along its edges, as well as Saint-Pierre-la-Mer, Narbonne-Plage, and Gruissan on the coast. The name derives from the Occitan word "clapas", which means "rocky scree slope" or "pile of pebbles."
The massif is about long from southwest to northeast and about wide from northwest to southeast. It provides the highest elevations on the mostly flat coast between the Rhône estuary and the Pyrenees. Several peaks reach over and are thus higher than the hill overlooking Sète, Mont Saint-Clair at, and the hill overlooking Agde at. The highest point of the Massif de la Clape is Pech Redon at. Due to its height, a radar station of the French military has been located on the Plan de Roques at an altitude of 200 m since 1965, from where it monitors the country and part of the western Mediterranean. The massif lies within the Parc naturel régional de la Narbonnaise en Méditerranée.
Geography
Geology
The rocks are primarily Lower Cretaceous limestones, exhibiting the characteristics of an Urgonian limestone. The Clape massif was once an island, connected to the mainland around the 14th century by the accumulation of alluvium from the Aude.The massif consists of karst and is therefore very permeable. There are no permanent surface waters, but numerous underground streams emerge at springs, which have enabled the establishment of farms in almost all valleys. The approximately of annual rainfall - making it one of the driest areas in France - fall mainly in autumn, while summer is dry. High temperatures and strong winds such as the Cers cause significant evaporation, estimated at per year. The importance of moist sea air for vegetation, depending on the wind direction, is difficult to determine but is also significant.
Gouffre de l'Œil Doux
A geological feature lies north of Saint-Pierre-la-Mer, the "gouffre de l'Œil Doux". Literally translated from French, this would mean "abyss of the sweet eye," but the name actually derives from the Occitan "Uèlh Dotz". The term "eye" here refers to an opening, while "dotz" means spring or channel, together roughly translating to "opening to the spring." This approximately circular opening, with a diameter of about, is a geological structure typical of karst and is known as a cenote or sinkhole. It reveals the groundwater level, which can vary considerably at the Œil Doux, partly due to its connection with the sea. Therefore, the water is brackish.The Gouffre de l'Œil Doux was first placed under protection in 1949. In 1978, the surrounding area, comprising, was added, before most of the massif was protected in later years.
Climate
The climate is Mediterranean. It sees low rainfall and up to 3000 hours of sunlight per year.The massif, which runs roughly north-south, is exposed to two strong winds: the Cers and the Marin. The Cers is a dry, fresh wind from the northeast; it originates in the depression between the northern foothills of the Pyrenees and the southern foothills of the Massif Central. This depression connects the area around Toulouse to the Mediterranean coast via the Seuil de Naurouze, Castelnaudary, and Carcassonne; the Canal du Midi and, more recently, the Autoroute des Deux Mers run through this area. The Cers blows through this corridor towards the Mediterranean, striking the topography of the Massif de la Clape, sometimes with enough force to uproot large trees on the massif's steep slopes with flat soils. The "Circius" was already mentioned by Roman writers, such as Seneca in 62 AD and Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia. The latter wrote that the Circius wind was unsurpassed in strength by any other wind. Seneca mentions a temple built in the city of Narbonne for the god Anemoi, where the residents gave thanks for the healthy skies he brought.
While the Cers brings clear skies, the Marin does the opposite: it blows in the opposite direction, from the sea towards Toulouse, and it brings very humid air with it. Low clouds can dump hundreds of litres of rain in just a few hours.
Flora and fauna
vegetation, forests, and vineyards are present to a significant extent. The mountain range is largely covered with kermes oaks and Aleppo pines. The cornflower is a plant endemic to the Clape massif in the commune of Gruissan.The knapweed Centaurea corymbosa, known in French as "Centaurée de la Clape," occurs exclusively at six locations in the Massif de la Clape. It is likely in an "evolutionary dead end"; Therefore, its chances of survival are considered limited. Other notable plants include bumblebee orchid, shrubby germander, prickly juniper, and Phoenician juniper. False brome is typical of the garrigue sheep pastures, and Aleppo pine is typical of the forests.
Above Gruissan is the nesting site of a Bonelli's eagle, one of only about thirty remaining in France. The common bent-wing bat uses various caves in the massif. In addition, the lesser kestrel, European roller, and eagle owl are present. of the massif are designated as a Natura 2000 site.
History
La Clape was an island: Lykia, for Phoenician navigators, which was known as Insula Laci by the Romans because of its many lakes; the Romans began to cultivate vines there. In the Middle Ages, the alluvial deposits of the Aude river, by filling in part of the ponds, connected it to the mainland and it became a peninsula. At the end of the Middle Ages, as it lost its insular character, intensive deforestation – whether for cultivation, the expansion of pastures or the production of firewood and construction timber – gave it a desert-like appearance.Formation of the massif and fossil finds
Around 45 million years ago, a thrust of the Pyreneo-Provençal chain caused the massif to shift by several dozen kilometers, separating it from the Corbières mountain range. It consists of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks overlain by younger strata. Steep slopes and cliffs alternate with high plateaus, and several gorges traverse the area. This makes the landscape attractive to free climbers. Besides a climbing garden, there are over 300 climbing routes in the massif.In 1828, Adolphe Brongniart described an Oligocene fossil site near Armissan. Dating to approximately 30 million years ago was achieved using certain fish species found there. In 1866, Gaston de Saporta published a list of plant fossils found at the site. In 1896, Albert Gaudry expressed his enthusiasm for the diverse plant fossils, including long Aralia leaves, acacia pods, and leaves and fruits of Anœctomeria, a genus of water lilies.
Early settlement in the Grotte de la Crouzade
The oldest traces of settlement in the massif were found in the "grotte de la Crouzade," a cave located above Gruissan, which was placed under monument protection as early as 1928. The cave entrance faces west, behind a large forecourt. The cave is essentially a tall, long chamber, 75 meters in length. The height gradually decreases towards the rear; it was discovered in 1866, and the first excavations took place in 1874. The earliest identifiable finds, about 50,000 years old, were attributed to the Mousterian culture, i.e., Neanderthals, whose bone remains were found mixed with those of prey animals. During a 17,000-year hiatus, sediments without any finds were deposited. From the following period, two skull fragments of modern humans were found, which are among the oldest in Western Europe. Radiocarbon dating of a jawbone fragment dated it to 32,700 BC. The flint and bone tools found there allow it to be attributed to the Aurignacian period. After a further gap, finds dating back 25,000 years can be attributed to the Gravettian period, before Magdalenian artifacts appear 10,000 years later. The post-glacial Azilian culture also left behind finds.The cave was closed to the public in the early 1990s to protect the bats living there.
Siltation of the former island in historical times
In Roman times, the massif was not part of the mainland but an island called "insula laci," island of the lake. The Aude River had two distributaries flowing into the Mediterranean. The upper distributary, similar to the present-day Aude, flowed northeast of the massif into the extensive Étang de Vendres. The lower distributary flowed into the "Lacus Rubresus," a lagoon that stretched south of Narbonne between the massif and the Corbières mountains. The port of Narbonne was connected to this distributary by a canal. Large parts of the Lacus Rubresus have now silted up; the Étang de Bages et de Sigean, between Narbonne and Port-la-Nouvelle in the south, is the largest remaining vestige.The Aude's floodplain expanded as early as the first century, but the massif remained an island throughout the Middle Ages. In 978, the village of Armissan, located west of the massif, was recorded as being situated on a bay of the Lacus Rubresus. In 1316, a flood that also devastated the city of Narbonne shifted the main course of the Aude River to the north of the massif. At the end of the 16th century, the consuls of Narbonne decided to drain the unhealthy marshes on the western side of the massif, towards the city, which had developed due to increasing silting. This helped to connect the former island to the mainland and create new arable land.
However, it is not possible to determine exactly when the transition from island to peninsula and finally to mainland occurred. As late as 1688, Pierre de Marca wrote in his Marca Hispanica of an island, the Insula Laci, bordered by lagoons to the west and the sea to the east. The names Insula Laci, île de Licci, Lec or Licti on the one hand and la Clape on the other were used in parallel from at least 1322 until the end of the 18th century.