Aven du Rousti

The Aven du Rousti is a sinkhole located on the Albion plateau in the municipality of Simiane-la-Rotonde, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department.

The Aven du Rousti is situated on the edge of the Saint-Christol depression on a shelf incised by valleys. The fossil gallery located at an elevation of -20 m features cups on the walls, oriented from east to west, as well as domes particularly in line with the fractures. These fractures have been re-used by vertical circulations, such as that of the entrance shaft of the aven. The fossil gallery is 80 m long and 5 m wide, containing interesting fills studied by Christophe Depambour. It contains fairly large rounded pebbles, sometimes the size of a fist, and the entirety of the fluviatile fills is covered by thick stalagmitic floors. To the west of the aven, on the slope of the valley, some in-situ stalagmitic floors attest to the overlap of the gallery, now perched about 600 m above the current base level. It is at this location that a second access to the cavity has been opened.

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