GO69, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
La Cascade Baume les Messieurs
The Cascade des Tufs, also called the Cascade du Dard, is at Baume-les-Messieurs, a Jura village nestled at the bottom of a reculée, the dead-end valley typical of the Jura plateaux. The site brings together three valleys: that of the Dard, which ends in the main cirque, that of the Seille and the Mardasson ravine.
Its particularity lies in the water itself. After crossing the limestone plateau, it becomes loaded with calcium carbonate. On contact with air, and with the help of mosses and aquatic plants that absorb carbon dioxide, this limestone precipitates and forms tufa. These deposits gradually build natural dams and basins at the foot of the fall, so that the waterfall builds itself up instead of retreating under erosion.
Nearby, the village houses the former abbey of Saint-Pierre, founded in the ninth century, which had gained great power in the twelfth century. Baume-les-Messieurs is one of the Most Beautiful Villages of France. Its caves, about 120 metres long with five halls, house notably small blind crustaceans, niphargus. Visiting conditions should be checked with the tourist office.
