Les chemins des dinosaures de Villette - Balade géologique

This paleontological site was discovered in 2003 and identified as such in 2010. Of great scientific interest, it bears witness to the area's geological past and plunges visitors into the distant past, the time of giant herbivores.These dozens of footprints date back 150 million years. They correspond to the movements of sauropods, diplodocus or brontosaurs, i.e. large herbivores weighing around twenty tonnes. The weight of these animals has left noticeable marks in the mud, like bulges 35-40 centimetres in diameter. In some cases, you can even make out their fingers! These dinosaurs were plantigrades at the back and digitigrades at the front. Two parallel tracks run up the platform for some forty metres. In search of food, there must have been five or six of them, or perhaps more. The footsteps left by these giants make us realize that the region was not entirely under water, as was long believed. We understand that there were shoals as well as emerged lands; islands large enough to feed entire herds. But how did these traces reach us? Sediments covered them, sinking them deep into the earth; then plate tectonics jostled the layers, causing them to fold, fracture and rise to the surface. Glacier erosion then cleared them.

The wildest site of the Valley of Ain. If you walk along the river, you will admire the impressive cliffs of Jarbonnet. An atmosphere of end of the world, silent and strange...Nature lovers, come and stroll along the river and admire the imposing cliffs of Le Jarbonnet. An ambiance at the end of the world, silent and strange... The view from the belvedere is exceptional. A short path runs along the cliff face, revealing new vistas, ledges and access to the vertigo trail. The Roches du Jarbonnet are part of the Haute rivière d'Ain, labelled "ENS" by the Département de l'Ain in 2019. True natural and landscaped jewels of the Ain department, sites with the ENS "Espaces naturels sensibles" label are managed in such a way as to preserve the biodiversity they host, and are designed to be open to the public (with certain exceptions due to the fragility of the environments).