Saint-Martin-le-Pin
Encyclopedia
Saint-Martin-le-Pin is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Dordogne
Dordogne
Dordogne is a départment in south-west France. The départment is located in the region of Aquitaine, between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the great river Dordogne that runs through it...

 department in Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...

 in southwestern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is part of the Regional Natural Park Périgord Limousin
Parc naturel régional Périgord Limousin
The Parc naturel régional Périgord Limousin was created March 9, 1998. It consists of 78 communes situated in the Dordogne and Haute Vienne départements...

.

Geography

Saint-Martin-le-Pin is situated along the D 94 about 5 kilometers northwest of Nontron
Nontron
Nontron is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-History:According to the historian Ribault de Laugardière, the name Nontron derives from the Tyrian language, from Nata and Dun...

. The boundary with Nontron to the southeast is the Ruisseau des Vergnes, a southwest-flowing right tributary of the Bandiat
Bandiat
The Bandiat is a small river that is 91 km long, a left tributary of the Tardoire. It flows through the Haute-Vienne, Dordogne and Charente departments in France.-Geography:...

. The commune's territory reaches the Bandiat river itself in the southwest, forming a natural boundary with the neighbouring communes Saint-Martial-de-Valette
Saint-Martial-de-Valette
Saint-Martial-de-Valette is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-External links:* *...

 in the south and Lussas-et-Nontronneau
Lussas-et-Nontronneau
Lussas-et-Nontronneau is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.In 1827, the communes of Lussas and Nontronneau formed into Lussas-et-Nontronneau-Population:-External links:* *...

 in the southwest. The commune's boundary to Javerlhac-et-la-Chapelle-Saint-Robert
Javerlhac-et-la-Chapelle-Saint-Robert
Javerlhac-et-la-Chapelle-Saint-Robert is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France. Javerlhac is in the Parc naturel régional Périgord Limousin.-Geography:...

 in the northwest and Le Bourdeix
Le Bourdeix
Le Bourdeix is a commune in the Dordogne department in southwestern France.-Population:-External links:* * *Map and aerial photos:**Street map: , or or **Satellite images: or - image now available...

 farther north is the Doue
Doue
Doue is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-Geography:Doue is located in eastern Paris basin, in the part of the Brie historically known for Brie lousy. The town is located about halfway between Paris and Reims 2.-External links:* * *...

 river, also a smaller right tributary of the Bandiat.

Saint-Martin-le-Pin can also be reached via the D 75 following the Bandiat valley from Nontron
Nontron
Nontron is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-History:According to the historian Ribault de Laugardière, the name Nontron derives from the Tyrian language, from Nata and Dun...

 to Javerlhac.

Besides the main village there are lots of little hamlets and single farms for example Ars, Blanchetière, Chantemerle, Chez Thomas, Crachat, Jourdonnières, La Borderie, La Combe au Cros, La Tuilière, Le Moulin de chez Jouanaud, Les Cazes, Lespinasse, Loradour, Mérignac, Pas Brouillet, Ribeyrolle, Talivaud, and Tranchecouyère.

Geology

The commune's territory is underlain in its totality by Variscan basement rocks (Piégut-Pluviers Granodiorite
Piégut-Pluviers Granodiorite
The Piégut-Pluviers Granodiorite is situated at the northwestern edge of the Variscan Massif Central in France. Its cooling age has been determined as 325 ± 14 million years BP .- Geographical situation :...

). Transgressing the basement from the West are lias
Lias
Lias may refer to:*In geology:**The Lias Group, a group in the stratigraphy of Great Britain, formed during the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic epochs. It includes the Blue Lias and White Lias...

sic sediments belonging to the Aquitanian Basin. The base conglomerate
Conglomerate (geology)
A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...

 can be seen near La Chapoulie. Stratigraphically higher follow arkose
Arkose
Arkose is a detrital sedimentary rock, specifically a type of sandstone containing at least 25% feldspar. Arkosic sand is sand that is similarly rich in feldspar, and thus the potential precursor of arkose....

s, dolostone
Dolostone
Dolostone or dolomite rock is a sedimentary carbonate rock that contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite. In old U.S.G.S. publications it was referred to as magnesian limestone. Most dolostone formed as a magnesium replacement of limestone or lime mud prior to lithification. It is...

s and limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

s. A NW-SE striking fault zone originating in Nontron traverses the territory and raises the Northeastern basement block. Movements along this fault zone must have been going on well into the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

, because one can observe stream rejuvenation along some of the southwestward-draining creeks. This fault zone is strongly mineralised in mainly baryte, but there is also galena
Galena
Galena is the natural mineral form of lead sulfide. It is the most important lead ore mineral.Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system often showing octahedral forms...

, sphalerite
Sphalerite
Sphalerite is a mineral that is the chief ore of zinc. It consists largely of zinc sulfide in crystalline form but almost always contains variable iron. When iron content is high it is an opaque black variety, marmatite. It is usually found in association with galena, pyrite, and other sulfides...

, pyrite
Pyrite
The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold because of its resemblance to gold...

 and the rather rare cadmium
Cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, bluish-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Similar to zinc, it prefers oxidation state +2 in most of its compounds and similar to mercury it shows a low...

 mineral greenockite
Greenockite
Greenockite is a rare cadmium mineral that consists of cadmium sulfide, CdS, in crystalline form. Greenockite crystallizes in the hexagonal system. It occurs as massive encrustations and as six-sided pyramidal crystals which vary in color from a honey yellow through shades of red to brown...

. This fault zone has been mined in the past, the shaft of the mine de la Mairie still can be seen in the village. Associated with the ores is an intensive recrystallization and silicification of the country rocks along the fault line. Between 1825 and 1850 manganese
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...

 was mined near Talivaud in the contact region between the arkoses and the overlying Sidérolithique, iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

-rich Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...

 sediments.

The limestones sometimes develop karst
KARST
Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...

 phenomena like caves (near Blanchetière).

The floodplain of the Bandiat is infilled by alluvial Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

 sands with occasional intercalated layers of polished quartz pebbles.

History

The romanesque
Romanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...

 village church Saint-Martin dates back to the 12th century and has been classified in 1942 as Monument historique
Monument historique
A monument historique is a National Heritage Site of France. It also refers to a state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building or a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, or gardens, bridges, and other structures, because of their...

.. Remarkable is its entry.

Before 1789 the commune was called Saint-Martin-le-Peint.. Saint Martin therefore was not associated with the pine tree, but rather was "painted".

Population

The population has suffered a serious set-back after 1968, but has stabilised since 1975.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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