The French territory is largely part of the Europe of ancient massifs and morphologically appears as a succession of sedimentary basins and moderately elevated areas, emerging with the most ancient geological formations (when not also covered by sedimentary soils). In the south-eastern marginal part France encompasses a large section of the Alpine chain, to the S the northern slope of the Pyrenees: two areas geologically included in young, Cenozoic Europe, formed with the Alpine orogeny. The ancient massifs are part of the reliefs that emerged in the Paleozoic (Hercynian orogeny) and correspond to the Armorican Massif, connected to the reliefs of southern Great Britain, and to the Varisci or Middle-European massifs. The whole large section affected by the Paleozoic orogeny emerged between the Carboniferous and the Permian; on the edges of the semi-submerged lands, lagoons and epicontinental seas, those carboniferous deposits accumulated which are the wealth of northern France. Visit baglib for France that offers pleasures.
In the Mesozoic era the territory was submerged for a long period by the sea: in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periodsthe most extensive and powerful formations date back. Subsequently began that general emergence of the territory and those tectonic movements connected with the Alpine orogeny that will give the country the definitive settlement. The repercussions of these orogenetic phenomena, which defined the structure of the Alps, led to the uplift of large areas already peneplaned, such as the Central Massif, simultaneously affected by volcanic activities, and to the rejuvenation of the massifs along the Rhenish rift (Vosges), as well as to the detail of Jura fold tectonics. In the most depressed areas of the territory, in particular in the Paris Basin and in the Aquitaine Basin, there were incessant processes of sedimentation which is responsible for the more superficial coulters of these regions, subsequently subject to the Quaternary fluvial contributions. Apart from the Alpine and Pyrenean areas, the French territory is therefore geologically settled, with mature profiles; this is at the origin of the sweet landscape that can be seen in most of France, although there is a notable regional variety as regards the physiognomic features, also linked to the morphology. In other words, there are different regions that present, physically, their precise identification, albeit without well-defined natural limits. One of the main, true geographical heart of France due to its very position open to the Atlantic and in direct contact with Rhenish Europe, is the Paris Basin, a sedimentary area with slight undulations (côtes) routes from the terraces of the Seine. AN extends the coal area, a flat plain bordered towards the S by the low hills of the Ardennes, an ancient peneplanate massif, with softened profiles, with long wooded ridges. The Paris Basin has its eastern appendage in Lorraine, a region rich in ferrous minerals that creeps between the Ardennes and the Vosges.
These are reliefs with rounded profiles (ballons) that border the Rhenish trench and dominate the fertile and populous plain of Alsace, bathed by the Rhine. AS dei Vosges begins the plateau of the Jura, a sort of foreland alpine, formed by Mesozoic limestone rocks, dominated by regular undulations and engraved by deeply embedded valleys. A characteristic element of south-eastern France is the Rodanian sulcus, a long depression crossed by the Rhone river and its tributary Saone: it has a meridian course and is separated to the N from the Paris Basin by the heights of Burgundy, while to the S there is a wide gap between the Massif Central and the Alpine side. The latter, given the asymmetry of the Alps, is very extensive and formed by powerful Mesozoic sedimentary structures, plastically bent; the French section of the Alps, largely included in the Dauphiné and Provence, culminates inwards in various granite massifs, including Mont Blanc, which dominates the Savoy. The transverse valleys penetrate deeply into the chain, making communications with Italy relatively easy. The alpine appendages end in the S in the articulated outline of the Côte d’Azur. The Massif Central is a large raised area made up of paleozoic rocks, marginally cloaked in Mesozoic strata spectacularly engraved by rivers (causses) and dominated by volcanic cones (puys; maximum elevation Puy de Sancy, with 1886 m); to the SE the Massif Central rises in the Cévennes chain dominating the Languedoc plain, whose coast is low, lagoon, beyond the great delta of the Rhone, which expands into the Gulf of Lion; to the W it slopes down into the Aquitaine Basin, a large depression area bounded to the S by the Pyrenean chain. This is structurally formed by the lifting of a paleozoic plate, which gives compactness to the whole and makes the chain (which exceeds 3000 m in several points) hardly passable, if not at its ends. The Aquitanian lowland is connected to the Atlantic coastal plains, which in turn merge with those that extend to the margins of the Armorican Massif. Formed by granites, gneisses and schist rocks various, this ancient relief emerges on a vast surface and is at the origin of the characteristic landscapes of Brittany, the Atlantic “horn” of France, and of the smaller Cotentin peninsula. The hinterland of these regions is Normandy, which represents the welding area between the basins of the Loire and the Seine and which overlooks the sea with characteristic cliff coasts between which the deep estuary of the Seine opens up.