A line of volcanoes

West of Clermont-Ferrand, nearly eighty volcanoes line up from north to south over some thirty kilometres. The Puy de Dôme, at 1,465 metres, is the highest point. Seen from above, the round craters, the domes and the frozen lava flows read like a plan.

Young volcanoes

These volcanoes are recent on a geological scale: the youngest are a few thousand years old. The forests and meadows that cover them today underline their shapes, especially when the sun is low.

A World Heritage site

The Chaîne des Puys and the Limagne fault have been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2018.

Your turn

The three images below show the same area on three different dates: the season changes the colours of the meadows and forests. To see the volcanoes in volume, also try the Relief rendering.