A mosaic of landscapes
The total area of the department is 4,116 km². Its highest point is not the Canigó, despite its imposing and vertiginous base, but the Carlit peak in Cerdanya (2,921 m). Forests cover 106,000 ha of the territory and one can find tree species such as oak, beech and all kinds of conifers at altitude. But the landscape beauty of the Eastern Pyrenees is even more striking from the sea, from the stage of this amphitheatre which offers the spectacle of market gardening occupying the plain and the coastline, orchards blossoming in the valleys and finally the vineyards running up the steps and clinging to the tiers of this majestic circus offered to the light. This mosaic or marquetry of landscapes and cultures is a veritable open-air museum that can be interpreted in the light of a tormented geology.
The climate
On the whole, it is a Mediterranean climate, modified at higher altitudes by mountain influences which become preponderant towards the west of the department. This climate, one of the mildest in France, is a major asset. Due to the extreme diversity of the geography, it is reflected on the weather map by hot, dry and sunny weather in summer, mild in winter. This gives about 300 days of sunshine per year, or 2,578 hours of sunshine. Of course it rains sometimes! The average annual rainfall is between 515 mm and 1,500 mm. In spring and autumn, the Roussillon region experiences thunderstorms, sometimes torrential. The department owes its intense azure skies partly to the tramontane, the wind which the old-timers used to say drove them mad. At certain times of the year, it can blow up to 110 km/h, and sometimes for two whole weeks, with peaks of 140 km/h or even more than 190 km/h towards Cape Bear.
Temperatures:
on the plains, summers are hot and dry and winters are generally mild with only a few rare days of frost on the coast. The temperatures in the Pyrenees-Orientales are among the mildest in France. However, in the mountainous areas, temperatures are relatively low in winter, while summers remain rather hot. While the average number of days with frost is only twelve in Perpignan, the Capcir and Cerdagne are snowed in for four to five months of the year. The average daytime temperatures in the department are, from December to March, between 5 °C and 12 °C; then they rise rapidly and remain above 20 °C from June to September with peaks of 38 °C or more in July and August.Sunshine
: the department had 2,578 hours of sunshine in 2019, compared with a national average of 2037 hours of sunshine. Data revised upwards for 2020 due to global climate change. The Pyrénées-Orientales is in a good position in the ranking of the sunniest departments in France.Wind
: in the department, the dominant winds are the Tramontane, a north-westerly wind, which frequently reaches speeds of over 100 km/h and the Xaloc or Marinade (S/E), which for its part brings greyness and rain, to which should be added the Gregal or Narbonès (N/E), the Levant, which as its name indicates comes from the East, the Mijorn equivalent to the Sirocco (from the South), the Garbi or Spanish wind (S/O) and finally the Canigonec, which as its name indicates comes from the Canigó (W).Rainfall
: the department of Pyrénées-Orientales had 515 mm of rain in 2019, compared to a national average of departments of 827 mm of rainfall. These figures are not expected to change for 2020 due to heavy spring rainfall. Rainfall, which often falls in intense stormy episodes, is mainly concentrated in autumn and spring with a dry period in summer.Natural phenomena : the department is subject to intense rainy episodes which can lead to flooding of the rivers. In summer, droughts are frequent and the major risk remains the fires, the vegetation deprived of water is particularly weakened. The Pyrenees-Orientales are subject to significant seismic activity, the last significant tremor recorded was in 1996 with a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter scale.
A turbulent geology
600 million years separate the granites of the Albères from the quaternary deposits of the coast. In a global and simplified way, the geological distribution of the rocks is grouped into three large natural sectors:
To the south and west
of the department, the high Pyrenees chain which includes the Canigó massif, the Albères and the Capcir. It is made up of ancient massifs (Paleozoic era) of granite or schist which are separated by fault corridors (Têt and Tech valleys).To the north
, the Fenouillèdes and the Corbières constitute a foothill zone of blurred reliefs where we find strongly folded limestones of the Jurassic and Cretaceous (Mezozoic era),
the Roussillon plain and the coastline are a filling and clogging basin of Pliocene age (Cenozoic era) and Quaternary composed of marine sediments and continental alluvium (leaching of the reliefs accentuated by the rivers flowing from west to east). The geology of the department is strongly linked to the history of the Pyrenean chain, to the sequence of two superimposed histories of the "old" and "young" Pyrenees. Three distinct geological stages mark its formation:the Hercynian history
: an ancient mountain range stretches over a large part of Europe (from 600 MA to 300 MA) and forms the basis of the rocks of the Primary era.the alpine history of the Pyrenees
(from -240 MA to -65 MA) corresponds to the surrection of new mountains such as the Alps and the creation of a vast mountain range that stretches from Galicia to Provence and includes the Gulf of Lion.the Mediterranean history (from -30 MA to -1,65 MA) sees the opening of the Mediterranean basin and the birth of the Gulf of Lion. Erosion gradually removed considerable quantities of material from the massifs and filled in the Gulf of Roussillon. Finally, the alternation of glacial and warm periods will shape the hydrography of the region through phases of river digging and gravel accumulation.
