Saleve, Haute-Savoie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
The Salève is a mountain of the French Prealps located in the departement of Haute-Savoie (France). It is also called the “Balcony of Geneva”. Geographically, the Salève is a mountain in the Prealps located in the Haute-Savoie department, but it geologically belongs to the Jura chain, just like the Vuache.
Below the northern slope of the Salève, is the Swiss agglomeration of Geneva. It is at the center of a vast territory where more than 700,000 people live. It is surrounded by the French A40, A41 and A410 motorways. Le Salève offers a panorama of the Geneva metropolitan area, Lake Geneva, the south of the Jura massif, the Prealps, Lake Annecy and Mont Blanc.
History
It housed, between 10,000 and 12,000 years BC. AD, a Magdalenian site. From 1833 the Geneva doctor François Isaac Mayor, then the pastor Taillefer and the dentist Thioly explore the past of the mountain; the cliff at the edge of Veyrier, on the French side, turns out to have been a shelter. Bones (partridge, reindeer, horse, marmots…), flint and carved wood are found in a dozen places, caves, shelters or habitats. A dolmen was in Aiguebelle. During the Neolithic and Bronze Age, the habitat becomes more sedentary (Bossey, Chaffardon). An oppidum is high (-1000) on the spur of Petit Salève, facing Mont Vuache. On IGN topographic maps, the summit (899 m) of Petit Salève is also called Camp des Allobroges.
The Grand Salève was served from 1892 to 1935 by the Salève railway, the first electric cogwheel train in the world . There were two lines: the Étrembières – Monnetier – Treize-Arbres line opened in December 1892, which bypassed the Petit Salève to the east, then the direct and much steeper Veyrier- Monnetier line, opened on March 24, 1894. This train was mainly used for tourism, but also served the Observatory of Salève (1913). The construction of the road leading from Monnetier to the Croisette via the crests of the Grand Salève was started in 1925, and the road inaugurated in 1931. Since 1932 the Grand Salève has also been accessible by a cable car (rebuilt in 1983). The upper cable car station, located 1,100 meters away, is the work of Swiss architect Maurice Braillard.
Geography
Geographically, the Salève is a mountain of the French Prealps located in the department of Haute-Savoie, but geologically a part of the Jura chain, as the Vuache is. Below the Salève is the Geneva urban area where more than 700,000 people live.
The Salève consists of the Pitons, the Grand and the Petit Salève, and culminates at 1379 meters at the Grand Piton. It is accessible via Téléphérique du Salève, a cable car, since 1932 (rebuilt in 1983), the Salève stretches between Étrembières in the north and the suspension bridge de la Caille in the south. Between 1892 and 1935, the Salève was served by the first electric rack railway in the world. The eastern side of the Salève dives under the molasse of the Bornes Massif while the abrupt mountain slope facing Geneva is subject to erosion. The vegetation – or its absence – enhances the limestone’s layers. This side of the mountain is slit by several narrow and deep gorges, among which the Grande Varappe, which at the end of the 19th century gave its name to the activity of rock climbing in French. This discipline developed intensely there, at a time when it was only beginning.
The Monnetier valley, separating the Petit and the Grand Salève, is due to glaciary erosion. Modern geologists now think that this valley was dug by the subglaciary currents in a fissured region between the Petit and the Grand Salève, and not by the Arve as was assumed earlier.
The Salève corresponds to an anticlinal fold bent towards the NW and overlapping in the middle basin of the northern Alpine foreland. But the identification of a network of longitudinal faults along the south-eastern flank in particular allows us to consider that the Salève uplift results from the action of “pop-up” type faults. The Salève separates the Franco-Geneva Molassic basin to the north (affiliated with the Swiss Molassic basin) and the Bornes Molassic plateau (affiliated to the Savoyard basin) to the south. Like the Jura massif, it results from the detachment and then the thrusting of the sedimentary covers of the Jura domain.to the north following the overlap of the external crystalline massifs on the base of the Jura in the Miocene. Detachment took place along a normal fault rooted in the Triassic layers. The shortening of the sediment cover is estimated between 2.5 to 3 km.
The layers of the eastern flank of the Salève form a structural slope that plunges under the molasse of the Bornes plateau but their extension to the south-east is thwarted by longitudinal accidents forcing the Urgonian limestones of the Vallorbe formation to form shuttered folds or kinks. Along the western slope, they form a partially dismantled fold. The upper half are cliffs where strips of vegetation delimit alternations between limestone layers released by erosion and predominantly marly intervals constituting vegetated terraces. On the lower half, the layers are subvertical to inverted and plunge under the Franco-Genevan molassic basin, constituting the inverted side of the fold.
The Salève as well as the lateral chains such as the mountain of Mandallaz belong to the Jura domain. They are characterized by calcareous series of Mesozoic platforms. Unlike the Bornes massif belonging to the Helvetic domain, the Jurassic domain comprises shallow coastal facies. At Salève, the outcropping series are divided between the Etiollets formation (Tabalcon limestones) from the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) and the Vallorbe formation from Hauterivien – Aptien (Lower Cretaceous). Following the establishment of the northern Alpine foreland basin and the passage of the frontal ridge, the top of the stratigraphic series emerged and then the Vallorbe formation was transformed into karst between the late Cretaceous and the Paleogene. This summit was then covered and the karsts filled in by siderolithic sandstone in the Eocene. This unit corresponds to fluvial deposits predominantly quartzose (quartzarenite) and locally presenting a high concentration of iron (hence the term siderolithic) which gives them a reddish tint.
These sandstones were also operated from the v th century to Faverges rock to metal production from the extraction of iron. Alluvial deposits then filled lacustrine depressions that are only found on the south-eastern flank (Mornex pudding in particular). Finally, the Vallorbe formation, siderolithic sandstones and lacustrine deposits are covered by molasse of which only red molasse auct (also called “variegated marls and sandstones”) which dates from Chattian(Oligocene). In addition, some erratic boulders at the top of the Salève bear witness to the passage of the Rhône glacier during the Riss glaciation at Grand Salève and of the Arve glacier at Petit Salève during the peak of the Würm glaciation.
Part of the karsts continued to develop under the effect of meteoric erosion. Like the Jura massif, the Salève has several caves and other cavities associated with the karstic system (Tanne à Damon, Orjobet cave, counterfeit cave, Trou de la Tine), even resulting from the collapse of boulders at the foot of the western flank (cave of Sous-Balme). The mountain is cut by several narrow and deep gorges, including the Petite and the Grande Gorge. Of these, the Great Rock climbing has given its name at the end of the xix th century, this term for the practice of climbing. Intense activity is developing on this steep slope at a time when this discipline is still in its infancy. These gorges reflect the presence of several sinistral descending faults oriented south-east – north-west. These strikeouts continue south-west through the Mandallaz mountain to the Vuache fault.
The valley of Monnetier, which separates the Petit and the Grand Salève, is due to glacial erosion. Currently geologists believe that the valley of Monnetier was dug by the current under glacier in a fissured area between the Petit and the Grand Salève and not by the Arve.
Fauna and flora
Le Salève is inhabited by wild boars, badgers (locally called tassons), deer and chamois. The wolf was also observed and filmed for the first time on the Salève in March and April 2012 29. Finally, there are indications concerning the presence of lynx.
The forests of Salève are mainly composed of chestnut, oak, Scots pines, spruce, beech, hornbeam and maple.
“Le syndicat mixte du Salève” and the “Maison du Salève”
The “Syndicat mixte du Salève” was created in 1994 and regroups the twenty communes on whose ground the Salève is located. Its objective is to appreciate and protect the mountain which is a “preserved island” in the middle of a French-Suisse territory that is highly urbanized with more than 700.000 inhabitants.
The syndicat opened the “Maison du Salève” in September 2007 in an ancient Mikerne farm house dating from 1733. This documentation center presents all aspects of the mountain: its history, patrimony, nature, sports and leisure. In the same year, it developed a charter for sustainable development of the Salève trying to reconcile the conservation of the massif with its increasing frequentation with a vision on 30 years. The “Maison du Salève” hosts a permanent exposition, temporary exhibitions as well as guided tours, excursions and conferences about the local patrimony and the environment.
The syndicat involves in its three work groups – agriculture, tourism and leisure, access and transportation – all users of the Salève, i.e., communes, sport clubs, environment protection associations, restorations, farmers, hunters, tourism offices etc.
Industry
Several quarries have been exploited on the Salève to extract stones. A limestone rock quarry is particularly visible from Geneva. It has been in operation since the 1830s. It has extended over 57 hectares at most since 2003, with a vertical drop of 250 meters, at the bottom of the Salève slopes, under the cable car, in the towns of Étrembières and Bossey. Around 2016, it was producing 500,000 tonnes per year, delivered to nearby neighborhoods 70% in France and 30% in Switzerland. The Salève stones were used to build many stone buildings in Carouge.
Tourism
The Salève Mixed Syndicate was created in 1994 and brings together the twenty Haut-Savoyard communes (60,000 inhabitants) over which the Salève massif extends. Its objective is to enhance and protect the massif, which is a “preserved island” at the center of a highly urbanized Franco-Swiss territory with more than 700,000 inhabitants.
In September 2007, the union opened the Maison du Salève in the old Mikerne farm, dating from 1733. This interpretation and documentation center presents the massif in all its aspects: history, heritage, nature, sports and leisure. In the same year, he implemented the Salève “sustainable development charter” aimed at reconciling the preservation of the massif with the increase in attendance, with a vision for thirty years. This house offers a permanent exhibition, temporary exhibitions and a program of guided tours, outings and conferences on the themes of local heritage and the environment.
The Syndicate associates with its three working groups – agriculture and mountain pastures, tourism and leisure, access and transport – all users of the Salève (municipalities, sports associations, nature protection, restaurateurs, peasants, hunters, tourist offices….)
Activities
Recreation ground par excellence for Genevans due to its proximity to the city (to such an extent that one often hears about it “mountain of Genevans”), people practice climbing, hiking and on skis, hiking. mountain bike and mountain biking, paragliding, hang-gliding, model aircraft, kites, caving and skiing at the Col de la Croisette.
Le Salève is a historic place in the history of rock climbing, since the term “varappe”, which is now part of everyday language, is directly taken from the name of two rocky corridors of the Salève, the Grande Varappe and the Petite Varappe.
The Salève trail has taken place every year in May since 2007.
In winter, cross-country ski trails are laid out on the Salève plateau, from the Croisette.