Photo : Romary / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Le Puy de la Vache
The Puy de la Vache is a volcano of the Chaîne des Puys, peaking at 1,167 m in the commune of Saint-Genès-Champanelle, south-west of Clermont-Ferrand. It is a basaltic scoria cone with a crater open on one side. It formed about 8,400 years ago, which makes it one of the most recent of the chain.
It has a twin, the Puy de Lassolas, with which it formed in a single Strombolian episode, along the same fracture. Their lava flows joined to form a long cheire, the cheire d'Aydat. This flow dammed valleys and created two bodies of water, Lac d'Aydat and Lac de la Cassière.
According to local tradition, the name "la Vache" comes from a dialect word meaning the spring, while Lassolas recalls salt, which locals thought they recognised in the white crystals of the rock. The two craters, part of which was carried away by the lava, can be explored on foot within the Auvergne Volcanoes park.
