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| Puy Mary | |
|---|---|
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 1,783 m (5,850 ft) |
| Coordinates | 45°06′34″N2°40′34″E / 45.10944°N 2.67611°E |
| Geography | |
  Puy Mary France | |
| Location | Cantal departement, France |
| Parent range | Massif Central |
The Puy Mary is a summit in the mounts of Cantal in Massif Central in France. It is classified as a "Grand National Site" in France. Nearly 500,000 visitors come to this site every year.
The mountain is an extinct volcano, about 6.5 million years old, which was formed by the accumulation of viscous lava (trachyte). It has been gradually eroded by glaciers during the Quaternary glaciation, which explains its pyramidal form. Seven glacial valleys radiate from the summit. It is accessible starting from the Pas de Peyrol, which at 1,589 m above sea level, is the highest pass of the Massif Central.
First mountain met by the oceanic disturbances coming from the Atlantic Ocean, the Puy Mary is among the wettest places in France. In winter, snow is abundant.
The subalpine stage of the Cantal mounts counts 550 plant species including 130 regarded as fragile (in these species, one counts 60 species which profit from a protection regional or national and 70 other not protected but rare). For example, one will be able to find, with a little chance, the following species of high mountain : the saxifrage with opposite sheets (Saxifraga oppositifolia), the saxifrage with sheets of Androsace (Saxifraga androsacea), the verticillate pedicular (Pedicularis verticillata) or the saxifrage of Lamotte (Saxifraga exarata subsp lamottei), the latter being an endemic species of the Cantal and the monts Dore. The puy Mary is a top where most of this flora can be observed.
Puy-de-Dôme is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2021, it had a population of 662,285. Its prefecture is Clermont-Ferrand and subprefectures are Ambert, Issoire, Riom, and Thiers.
Cantal is a rural department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, with its prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour and Mauriac; its residents are known as Cantalians. Cantal borders the departments of Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Aveyron, Lot, Lozère and Corrèze, in the Massif Central natural region.
Haute-Loire is a landlocked department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Named after the Loire River, it is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Ardèche, Lozère, Cantal and Puy-de-Dôme. In 2019, it had a population of 227,570; its inhabitants are called Altiligériens in French.
A massif is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits. In mountaineering literature, a massif is frequently used to denote the main mass of an individual mountain.
Puy de Dôme is a lava dome and one of the youngest volcanoes in the Chaîne des Puys region of Massif Central in central France. This chain of volcanoes including numerous cinder cones, lava domes and maars is far from the edge of any tectonic plate. Puy de Dôme was created by a Peléan eruption, some 10,700 years ago. Puy de Dôme is approximately 10 km from Clermont-Ferrand. The Puy-de-Dôme département is named after the volcano.
The Massif Central is a highland region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France.
Saxifraga is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 465 species of holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages or rockfoils. The Latin word saxifraga means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin saxum + frangere. It is usually thought to indicate a medicinal use for treatment of urinary calculi, rather than breaking rocks apart.
The Glyderau are a mountain group in Snowdonia, North Wales. The name derives from the highest peaks in the range, Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach. According to Sir Ifor Williams, the word "Glyder" derives from the Welsh word "Cludair", meaning a heap of stones.
Auvergne is a cultural region in central France.
The Dom is a mountain of the Pennine Alps, located between Randa and Saas-Fee in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. With a height of 4,545 m (14,911 ft), it is the seventh highest summit in the Alps, overall. Based on prominence, it can be regarded as the third highest mountain in the Alps, and the second highest in Switzerland, after Monte Rosa. The Dom is the main summit of the Mischabel group, which is the highest massif lying entirely in Switzerland.
Puy de Sancy is the highest mountain in the Massif Central, in Puy-de-Dôme departement of south central France. It is part of an ancient stratovolcano which has been inactive for about 220,000 years.
Micranthes stellaris, synonym Saxifraga stellaris, the starry saxifrage or hairy kidney-wort, is an Arctic–alpine species in the family Saxifragaceae. It produces panicles of 5–10 white flowers on a stem up to 20 cm (7.9 in) tall, rising from a basal leaf rosette. One subspecies is found from eastern Canada to Russia, including the British Isles, while another is found in the mountains of southern Europe.
Saxifraga paniculata is an alpine species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family, with native distribution in the temperate northern hemisphere. Common names include alpine saxifrage, encrusted saxifrage, lifelong saxifrage, lime-encrusted saxifrage, livelong saxifrage, white mountain saxifrage, and silver saxifrage.
The Chaîne des Puys is a north-south oriented chain of cinder cones, lava domes, and maars in the Massif Central of France. The chain is about 40 km (25 mi) long, and the identified volcanic features, which constitute a volcanic field, include 48 cinder cones, eight lava domes, and 15 maars and explosion craters. Its highest point is the lava dome of Puy de Dôme, located near the middle of the chain, which is 1,465 m (4,806 ft) high. The name of the range comes from a French term, puy, which refers to a volcanic mountain with a rounded profile. A date of 4040 BC is usually given for the last eruption of a Chaîne des Puys volcano.
The Plomb du Cantal is the highest summit of Mounts of Cantal in the Massif Central, France. It is the second highest summit of the Massif Central, after the mountain of Puy de Sancy.
Saxifraga bryoides is a species of saxifrage known by the common name of mossy saxifrage. In German it is known as Moosartiger Steinbrech. It is an inhabitant of the Alps and other mountain ranges at high altitudes in continental Europe.
The Mounts of Cantal are a mountainous massif in the mid-west of the Massif Central, France, made up of the remnants of the largest stratovolcano of Europe, which was formed from 13 million years ago and last erupted approximately 2 million years ago. However, the main part of the volcanic activity was concentrated between 8.5 and 7 million years ago. Thereafter, the original volcano was largely eroded, massive landslides occurred, and it was further eroded by glaciers and water.
Saxifraga rosacea, or Irish saxifrage, is a herbaceous plant in the family Saxifragaceae. The epithet rosacea does not refer to its flowers which are white, but to its radical sterile shoots which are often rosy. Owing to this misleading epithet, the rosy-flowered Saxifraga × arendsii is sometimes misidentified as Saxifraga rosacea.
The floraof the Massif Central is rich and diverse. This diversity can be explained by the Massif's large surface area, its position at the intersection of different climatic zones, and its geological variety. The plants that can be found in the very wet western part are not the same as those found in the drier eastern part, and the difference is even greater with the species that can be found in the southern part, which are subject to marked Mediterranean influences. This spatial component is not the only one involved, since exposure, altitude, and the nature of the substrate are also determining factors. For example, there is the classic contrast between south-facing and north-facing slopes, and the differences in vegetation between acidic soils (granite) and basic soils. Although the altitude of the Massif Central is low compared to other mountain ranges such as the Alps or the Pyrenees, there is a clear range of vegetation, from Mediterranean vegetation to sub-alpine grassland. Generally speaking, in most of the Massif Central, there are four distinct levels of vegetation:
The Cézallier massif, which can also be written Cézalier, is a volcanic plateau in the Massif Central, between the Monts Dore and Monts du Cantal, making up a natural region of France. It is mainly divided between two départements: Puy-de-Dôme and Cantal, but also includes a small part of Haute-Loire. It is also one of the five natural regions making up the Parc naturel régional des volcans d'Auvergne.
