Periglacial landforms in Périgord (France)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26485/BP/1962/11/5Keywords:
periglacial conditions, solifluction lobes, prehistoric settlementAbstract
Article in French.
ORIGINAL TITLE: Le modelé périglaciaire en Périgord (France)
The landscape of the Périgord region, which was formed at the end of the Tertiary and beginning of the Quaternary within a bedrock composed of crystalline and sedimentary rocks and which was only slightly deformed by tectonic activity, was softened or transformed by periglacial conditions.
Solifluction lobes obliterating terraces; niches cutting through the Cretaceous slopes; layered rock debris; fossilized slopes; rock slides; surface fractures; asymmetric valleys or buried valleys; and clay-sand alluvial fans – all these reflect solifluction lobes, which, even in the present climate, has continued uninterrupted. This activity was significantly more intense during the Quaternary glaciations, which coincide with the period of settlement of prehistoric tribes in the Périgord.
As this study demonstrates, traces of human activity beginning during the Riss-Würm interglacial are interwoven with periglacial phenomena, allowing for precise dating. In this context, using pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating conducted by other researchers, we will attempt to establish a chronology of the stages of periglacial land-formation in the Périgord region. It can be concluded that the alternation of periglacial sediments and sediment deposited by Palaeolithic tribes indicates only a single glaciation. However, in the context of this climatic episode, the interactions between human activity and morphological phenomena are so numerous that they have revealed a wide range of erosional variability over tens of thousands of years.
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