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| The Birth of the Alps | |
| The geological complexities of how the Alps were formed, cannot be explained totally in this page. For further information specific geology books must be consulted. | |
| The Alps are born. | |
| 770 million years ago, an upheaval of the earths crust raised a mass of schist, gneiss and limestone to form an under laying axes of the Alps range. Towards the and of this upheaval, around 300 million years ago, intrusions of granite in the western sector of these ancient mountains brought with them metamorphic rocks which together formed the base of what we know now as the and massifs. | |
| Following extensive erosion and inundation by the sea when sedimentary rocks were laid down, this part of the Alps underwent a new phase of elevation as violent movements in the continental plates produced great mountain building creases in the earth's crust. | |
| The formation of Mont Blanc | |
| The formation of the Massif was completed
towards the end of this Tertiary era, some 15 million years ago. Four
succesive glaciations formed in the Quartenary era (an ice age) helped
to sculpt the present profile of the Mont Blanc range and excavated
the Chamonix valley. At the time
was buried under a large expanse of ice, 1000m deep which stretched
as far as Lyon. Finally the climate became milder; and the glaciers retreated to higher altitudes. This is the period we are living in now. Although retreating, the glaciers still play a major role in erosion. |
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| Other erosion factors
are: 1 The freeze/thaw cycles of moisture in the form of ice frost and snow, which can split and flake rock. 2 Meltwater and rain scouring channels down mountainsides and carrying with it boulders stone and sediment. 3 Wind which displaces already loose material. 4 Avalanche and Landslip flattening and changing land drainage patterns. 5 Man, whose feet, wheels, activities, pollution and constructions still play their part in modifying the environment. |
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| Glaciers/general, Glaciers in Chamonix, | |
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