Turriers () is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. Since 2016, it has been designated a key village in the UNESCO Geopark of Haute Provence because of its outstanding geological features, its rich biodiversity, and its historical interest.
Population
Turriers and the UNESCO Geopark of Haute Provence
In 2001 UNESCO began its Geopark program, with the purpose of identifying areas of international geological significance in order to provide management that includes protection, education, and sustainable development. The first group of UNESCO Geoparks to be designated was in 2004 and Haute Provence was one of 17 European areas selected. Because of its geological, natural and cultural heritage, in 2016 Turriers was nominated as a key or heartland village of the Haute Provence Geopark.
Residents and the press are in the process of collecting and publishing information and organizing events to bring attention to Turriers' role in the Geopark. The children at Turriers primary school are designing a virtual guidebook that visitors can use to walk around Turriers and discover the points of interest.
Geography
The village is situated at an altitude of 1,040 meters on a rocky promontory called "Les Baumelles". It presents the classic aspect of an Haute Provence hilltop village. Turriers has long been a farming community, along with its surrounding hamlets, and is the focal point of a vast basin of meadow and farmland topped by forest. The ancient farming activities are still in evidence. The meadows are enclosed by a spectacular circle of hills rising up to 850 m above Turriers. To the north, there are clear views of the High Alps.
Turriers is approached from Sisteron or Gap by the routes D951 and D1; from the east by the D1 from Seyne Alpes; from the south by the D5 from Bayons. Other communes located near Turriers are Bellaffaire, Saint-Martin-lès-Seyne, Bayons, Faucon-du-Caire, and Gigors.
Geology
Turriers is situated in the northern section of the Digne pre-Alps on the Digne nappe, a thrust sheet with a depth of approx. 5,000 m that moved south-west during the Oligocene epoch towards the end of the period when the Alps were forming. The lobes (or scales) demark the western edge of the nappe. During the Riss glaciation, Turriers was entirely submerged under the Durance glacier. During the Würm glaciation, the glacier was less dense and came to a halt at Les Tourniquets (a series of steep hairpin bends to the south between Turriers and Bayons), at that time crossed by a tongue of the Riss glacier. These two successive glaciers shaped the Col des Sagnes, to the south of the village. In the west, they crossed the Col de Sarraut and entered the valley known as the Grand Vallon. In the Würm glaciation the height of the glacier at Forest Loin, west of Turriers, dropped to approx. 1,250 m. here the ice had a depth of 150 m, compared to over 200 m at Turriers. The successive geological eras have left dramatic traces in the landscapes around Turriers, particularly in the vertical plates of fossil-rich limestone typical of the region; the mountain called Roche Cline to the west of the village is a fine example. For a full description of the geological heritage watch the video on the website of the UNESCO Geopark de Haute Provence.