This locality offers a broad panorama of the geological features of northern Corsica. One can observe the landscape and topography of the entire region, from the Tenda massif in the west to the Cap Corse in the northeast.
The topography in the west is fairly flat except for two features: The Tenda massif and the steep face of light limestones. In contrast, the landscape of the Cap Corse is steeper… and either rather bushy (at low elevation) or bold (in fact where brownish peridotite is exposed).
The stark differences in the topography of northern Corsica are rooted in the contrasting geology. While the Cap Corse is made of oceanic lithosphere, the Tenda massif is a piece of continental material. In between are uplifted sedimentary rocks, mainly Miocene limestones from the former Saint-Florent basin. In the next few localities, we will try to explore how such a big fragment of oceanic lithosphere came to lie on top of the continental crust.
