Term Papers on FRANCE’S GEOGRAPHY

Term Paper Title	FRANCE’S GEOGRAPHY
# of Words	1017
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.07

FRANCE’S GEOGRAPHY

Land

          France may be divided into two regions by an imaginary line joining Biarritz in the southwest and Luxembourg in the northeast. Broad plains, low hills, and low plateaus predominate north and west of this line, and elevated plateaus and high mountains, including Mont Blanc (4,807 m/15,771 ft), the highest point in France and in Europe outside the Caucasus are found south and east of the line. Linking the two types of terrain, as well as providing easy communication with other parts of Europe, are several wide valleys and gaps, including the Belfort Gap, the Saone valley, the upper Rhone valley, the combined Rhone-Saone corridor south of Lyon, and the gaps at Carcossonne and Toulouse.

          France is sometimes described as a microcosm of Europe because the three major types of European landforms--sedimentary basins and lowlands, worn-down Hercynian mountain blocks, and younger, folded mountain belts--are all well represented in France. The principal sedimentary basin is the Paris Basin, which forms a vast, saucer-shaped lowland, covering about 100,000 square km (38,600 square miles) and composed of alternating layers of hard and soft rocks that afford a varied relief. The smaller Aquitaine Basin, also sedimentary, lies southwest of the Paris Basin. Other lowlands include several long, narrow plains that run north-south, including the Alsace Plain west of the Rhine and the Rhone-Saone corridor, and coastal plains, including the Languedoc Plain, along the Mediterranean coast. The basins and plains have fertile soils, notably loam and alluvial deposits-excellent for farming.

          The Hercynian mountain blocks are remnants of ancient mountains formed during the Hercynian orogeny (a mountain-building period during the Carboniferous and Permian periods, 340 to 230 million years ago) and subsequently worn down before being uplifted during the Tertiary Period (65 to 2 million years ago). The principal uplands are the Armorican Massif, the Massif Central, the Vosges, and the Ardennes. The Armorican Massif, located in northwestern France, is composed mainly of low plateaus. The Massif Central is located in south-central France between the Rhone-Saone corridor and the Aquitaine Basin, and consists of plateaus that rise to more than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The Auvergne Mountains, of volcanic origin, rise from the plateaus. The Vosges are located in eastern France between the Paris Basin and the Alsace Plain and reach more than 1,200 m (4,000 ft) in the Ballons d'Alsace. A small portion of the Ardennes, which lie mostly in Belgium and Luxembourg, extends into France. The soils in all the Hercynian uplands are usually thin and developed on underlying granite and crystalline rocks.

          The two principal mountain chains in France are the Pyrenees, which form the border with Spain, and the Alps, which form most of the border with Switzerland and Italy. The Pyrenees are difficult to cross because of their high altitude--several summits exceed 3,000 m (10,00...

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