A different kind of sand - on the road again in the volcanoes of the Auvergne

I’ve just spent several days rambling around the geology of the Puy de Dome and the surrounding volcanoes in the Auvergne region of France’s Massif Central. These are extraordinary and surprising landscapes - volcanicity with a long history extending up to a mere five thousand years ago, leaving one to wonder whether or not it is indeed all over and done with. But this is not the only fascination of this area; it is one of the less-heralded, but nevertheless key, cradles of geology in the early part of the nineteenth century. Much more on this later, but meanwhile an example of volcanic ash - a different kind of sand - and a sample of the volcanic crater landscape. SIGNATURE

Originally published at: https://throughthesandglass.typepad.com/through_the_sandglass/2009/10/a-different-kind-of-sand-on-the-road-again-in-the-volcanoes-of-the-auvergne.html