Lac des Assiettes

10,500 years ago, the tongue of the Glacier of the Grands Couloirs / Réchasse which flowed towards the valley of l´Arcelin stopped at the Lac des Assiettes. This formed a moraine-dammed lake at the level of a limestone rock bar. During the Little Ice Age, the Lac des Assiettes was obstructed by an independent underground ice cap system. This could hold water for a large part of the summer months and perhaps year round thanks to the great periods of glacial flood (1550-1650, 1700-1780, 1820 -1860) according to Bravard and Marnezy (1981).Today we are witnessing the death of this lake because of “alluviation”. In fact, alluvial erosions upstream (pebbles, gravels, clays ...) which are transported by the torrents, filled this lake. The latter are swiftly colonised by pioneer plant species (linaria alpina, Silene acaulis).