No tectonics in this post, sorry, for I found those Normandy chalk cliffs so beautiful that I decided to share some views. I was there for a few days just after the end of the Covid lockdown in France. This is geology and geomorphology as drawn by painters of the 19th century, or captured by my smartphone !
Possibly the most realistic view, by a painter and woman, Élodie La Villette. This landscape shows the geological layers, the cliffs as well as the erosional processes: huge cliff failure and landslide is visible in the mid-ground.
This painting is at "Les Pêcheries" museum in Fécamp.
Abstract painting ?
Nope, photographs of the chalk and flint layers. And, no, I will not shift my research interest to stratigraphy or sedimentology, but I found this so graphically beautiful and aesthetic !
I share these views without telling the detailed geological story, but you'll find a link to a field guidebook at the end of the post.
Last, a kind reminder that these landscapes have inspired many painters, like Claude Monet or Gustave Courbet (thanks to Wikipedia Common for the images !).
- A Geological Field Guide to Étretat (Seine-Maritime, Upper-Normandy, France) by Bernard Hoyez
- A related EGU blog post
