Cliff of the Madeleine

Le 17 novembre 2015, lors de la 38e Conférence générale de l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour les Sciences, la Culture et l’Education (UNESCO), les 195 États membres ont ratifié la mise en place d'un nouveau label : géoparc mondial UNESCO, afin de montrer l’importance accordée à la gestion globale de sites et de paysages géologiques exceptionnels. Il existe actuellement 229 Géoparcs mondiaux UNESCO répartis dans 50 pays dont 97 en Europe. Sept Géoparcs mondiaux UNESCO sont en France dont 2 en région Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur (Luberon et Haute-Provence). La falaise de la Madeleine à Lioux fait partie de la soixantaine de géosites identifiés sur le territoire du Géoparc du Luberon, animé et piloté par le PNR Luberon.

The Earth is an active planet, alive, animated by movements. This results in soft deformations (folds), or brittle (fractures and faults). The Madeleine cliff corresponds to one of these faults. The northern compartment of the fault is sunk several tens of meters. It is the ditch of Lioux where the village settled. The southern compartment, made of very hard limestones, remained in relief. Thus the cliff highlights exactly the layout of this fault in the landscape

Dans le compartiment affaissé de la cassure de roches de la falaise de la Madeleine, se sont déposés au-dessus de la dalle calcaire des sédiments lacustres marneux et sableux, contemporains de l’activité de la faille. Ainsi, à l’abris au pied de la falaise, ils ont été abrités de l’érosion et se sont conservés. Ce sont sur ces terrains plus tendres et plus propices que se sont ensuite édifiés le village, les hameaux de la Combe, du Château et du Parrotier. Ce sont aussi les zones cultivées. C'est le fossé de Lioux !

The Lioux municipality covers nearly 4,000 ha! This gives it very contrasting landscapes between scrubland, old castles and dark forest. Lioux is separated into two parts: the old village with the Romanesque church at the foot of the cliff and the "low village", in the valley. It is said that Hannibal, accompanied by his war elephants, crossed Lioux before reaching the road to the Alps. This explains the presence of an elephant on the coat of arms of the municipality.

See on the road this channel, trace of an old canal which brought the water, without doubt to the village. Shortly after, when you get to the first houses, you will find a source, the Orchard Fountain and its wash house below. The water, in Provence, was rare and valuable. This is still the case ; !

This bastide is called "La Verrerie", the only remnant of a distant past where glass was made. For this, it takes sand, lime and especially a lot of wood to feed the furnaces. From the Middle Ages, the glass works are implanted in the region, because of the magnificent forests that cover Monts-de-Vaucluse and Luberon, which they gradually raze! In 1701, the Simiane council begs to "suppress the glass factory which is the forest chancre". The last glass factory of the country of Apt will close in 1889.

See also the massive massif of Monts-de-Vaucluse, large limestone slab very thick (more than 1000 m). It collects, in depth, the rainwater that will come out in Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, 1st source of France by its flow. On their southern edge, the Monts-de-Vaucluse are cut canyons like the one from combe of Lioux, opposite or of Vaumale, in the west, allowing to connect the waters circulation of the plateau with the one of Apt bassin .

To the north, below, we can find hills of gray clays. Insignificantly, these clays and the fossils they contain allowed the creation, in 1840, of one of the stages of the international stratigraphic scale which breakdown the history of the Earth, in eras, period, stages .. . Since its formation more than 4 billion years ago. This floor is the Aptian, which takes its name from Apt, of course, between -125 and -113 million years ago.

On the south-south-east side, the view emerges on the hills of the massive ocrieres, the Claparèdes plateau and the Saignon rock, then the Grand Luberon massif and its summit, the Mourre Nègre (1,125 m). The birth of the Grand Luberon is linked to that of the Pyrenees about 40 million years ago. Just like those massifs oriented east-west (Alpilles, Ste-Baume, Ste-Victoire ...). Subsequently, the formation of the Alps will enhance this relief then erosion will mold it.

Magnificent and grandiose belvedere to the south west on the Petit Luberon massif and its vast summit plateau. Full west, the village of Gordes is well located, built and nested on the edge of the molasse plateau, the "Pierre du Midi". Further south, a part of the ocher massif is discovered, with its red and yellow sands. These sands of alteration are the index of a tropical Provence 100 million years ago.

North facing, overlooking the valley of Lioux, the majestic ruins of Castellas enthroned on their rocky peak. This castle in the defensive position is only one of the 5 castles of the town;! Why such an abundance;? Parrotier Castle is located in the lower village of Lioux but those of Bezaure, Saint-Lambert and Javon are further away. They were once attached to municipalities of the same name that joined Lioux in 1793, adding 3 castles on the perimeter of the town.

The Luberon mills originally used the strength of man or animals. Then it was replaced by the force of the water and finally that of the wind. Provence was the first French region to build windmills, because of its relief and strong winds that cross it. The first were attested in 1180, allowing to grind grain and olive. The tower that is observed is the remnant of an old windmill, it is currently inhabited (private, can not visit).