🏖️ Arène Beach: a spot between sky, sea, and ancient rocks
⚠️⛔ Access prohibited during days when the mountain ranges are closed (fire risk)
🌅 From Arène Beach, the view is breathtaking: Cap Canaille, Jas de la Penna, and their large ochre and white cliffs plunge into the sea. A natural setting as beautiful as it is steeped in geological history!
🪨 90-million-year-old rocks
🧡 The cliffs are made of ochre-colored calcareous sandstone and white limestone: these rocks were formed around 90 million years ago, during the time of the dinosaurs.
🌊 They rest on a darker bedrock, sloping gently toward the sea: gray marl, which is much softer and more fragile. These rocks, deposited in a deep marine environment, contain marine fossils:
🌀 Ammonites,
🦠 Foraminifera,
🌍 evidence of an ancient ocean.
🌧️ A risk area
⚠️ The friable marl easily becomes eroded in heavy rain: deep gullies, landslides, and rift niches can be observed.
🏗️ For safety reasons, all construction is prohibited in this unstable area.
🪨 Very much alive pebbles... once upon a time!
👀 While walking on the beach, take a close look at the pebbles: many are perforated! These small holes are the result of marine boring organisms:
🦪 Piladus piddocks and 🐚 cliones, which dig their shelters into the stone as if through butter.
🌊 Between spectacular geology, fossil marine life and magnificent landscapes, Arène beach is a perfect place to understand the history of the Earth... with your feet in the water!