Nîmes-le-Vieux

6 points of interest

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  History

  Nîmes-le-Vieux: a trail to the very core of dolomite rock

  The block field of Nîmes-le-Vieux was given its name in 1908 by its “discoverer” Paul Arnal, the Protestant pastor of Vébron. In 1910, the journal Causses and Cévennes published an article about the site by the famous geographer E.A. Martel: “Unlike Montpellier-le-Vieux, it is not a collection of enclosed spaces 100 m deep and grouped around a central rocky range, but a cliff front, a projection of the Causse Méjean surface that presents a long stretch of semi-circles all bristling with hundreds of carved, sculpted Dolomite rocks full of holes…”

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  Landscape

  A “handmade” landscape

  The hamlet of L'Hom stands sheltered from the north and west winds by a rocky barrier, on the edge of a basin of deep soil (doline) that is the reason for its being built in this very spot.

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  Fauna

  Imps of shrubs and rocks

  Birds as light as sprites and as quick to vanish find shelter and food here. The combination of short-grass prairie rich in both grasses and herbaceous plants (and frequented by insects and rodents), and rocky areas offering much shelter means that many varieties of bird can be observed.

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  Geology

  A drop, time and an abyss

  This ruiniform relief has resulted from the dissolution of the bedrock, which has left behind the most resistant parts and given them the most varied shapes. The areas that are currently hollows have been subject to the most intense erosion, which has in some places created arches, vaults and even small gorges. Since the Causses emerged from the sea during the Mesozoic, rainwater from the lower strata of the atmosphere (and hence high in carbonic acid) has entered the bedrock through its many fissures and permeated its depths, speeding up its erosion.

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  Flora

  Attack!

  Even on bare rock, plant life manages to get a hold and evolve increasingly plentiful habitats for species that are increasingly demanding. From lichens to flowering plants, this is the great adventure of plant life, starting from the driest mineral substrate.

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  Tradition

  When the herdsman...

  The chorus of the “Chanson du Bouvier” inflects in the vowels of the alphabet (to which ancient civilisations attributed the virtue of an incantation) the “divine name which must not be pronounced”. Bouvier is also the old name for the Arcturus constellation (Boötes), which is near Ursa Major and looks as though it is following the latter’s Plough through boundless space, as a herdsman follows his cattle.