Geography of the Loire-Atlantique

Located on the Atlantic coast of France, just in the South of the beginning of the Breton peninsula, the Loire-Atlantique is bordering on the departments of the Morbihan in the North-West, of Ille-et-Vilaine in North, Maine-et-Loire in the East and the Vendée in the South. The west coast is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The department is crossed by the the Loire, which is thrown in the ocean on the level of Saint-Nazaire.

Relief

Geologically, the department belongs to the Armorican Massif. All in all, the relief of the Loire-Atlantique is marked rather little. In the North of the Loire, one finds a whole of plates which can culminate to 100 m of altitude (the culminating point of the department is the Colline of Bretèche, close to Châteaubriant, with 115 m of altitude, which makes to Loire-Atlantique least low department of France). In the South of the river, towards the country of Retz, the landscape is rather marked by a succession of hills reaching 30 Mr. the most outstanding relief is however the Sillon of Brittany, a succession of hills which crosses the department according to a North-western/South-eastern direction.

Cours d' water

The relief is dug in the North of the Loire by the valleys of the Erdre, of the Chézine, the Gesvres, in the South not that of the Nantes Sèvre. The Loire constitutes a major geographical element; upstream of Nantes, the Loire is still primarily river; it is generally considered that the Estuaire of the Loire starts on the level of Nantes and the variations of level related to the oceanic influence of the Marée S are perceptible there (the Acheneau, affluent of the Loire located downstream from Nantes, sees sometimes its course being reversed at the time of strong tides).

Wetlands

The Loire-Atlantique is marked by many marshes, like the Brière in the North of Saint-Nazaire or the marshes of Couëron downstream from Nantes. In the South of Nantes, the Lac of Large-place is one of the more big lakes of France, its very low depth (less than 2 m) combined with an extremely weak slope making its surface very variable. In a general way, the department comprises wetlands enormously.

Coasts

The Loire-Atlantique has more than 130 km of coasts along the Atlantic Ocean.

See too

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