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Geology of Languedoc

The main elements of the geology and relief of the Languedoc region are:

• to the north, the Montagne Noire, which is the southernmost part of the Massif Central, a large region of mainly Palaeozoic rocks occupying the central upland area of France, itself a small part of the Variscan orogenic belt
• In the centre, an east-west trending basin filled with sediments of Cretaceous to Quaternary age
• to the south, the Pyrenees, a double mountain belt, partly created during the late-Palaeozoic Variscan mountain-building event, and partly during the younger Alpine orogeny.

View west, near St Chinian: folded and thrust limestone ridges

Geography

The Languedoc was historically much more extensive. It is part of the modern administrative region of Languedoc-Roussillon, comprising the départements of Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude, Hérault, Gard and Lozère.

The Montagne Noire

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Montagne Noire viewed from the south in winter. Photo: Christian Ferrer. The high, snow-covered ridge at the back is the axial zone of the Montagne Noire, consisting of high-grade metamorphic rocks. The lower wooded ridges are in Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks, deformed by complex Variscan folding and faulting.

The Languedoc Foreland Basin

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The Northern Pyrenees

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