Le puy des Goules

Puy des Goules rises to 1,146 m : its regular crater is 200 m in diameter and 40 m deep. The volcano has no known lava flows, which may be masked by more recent deposits.
The volcano’s northern flank was partly destroyed around 13,000 years ago by the eruption of the(…)

Puy des Goules rises to 1,146 m : its regular crater is 200 m in diameter and 40 m deep. The volcano has no known lava flows, which may be masked by more recent deposits.
The volcano’s northern flank was partly destroyed around 13,000 years ago by the eruption of the Grand Sarcoui dome.

It is a strombolian volcano. This type of volcano is characterized by a fairly fluid lava that rarely overflows the crater. This type of volcano is still active in Italy, but is currently extinct in the Chaîne des Puys. Its last eruption was around 30,000 years ago, which suggests a deep sleep.

This puy features a regular crater covered with beech and hazelnut woods, with a difference in vegetation between the shrub-covered interior of the crater and the bare eastern rim.
Hazelnut trees cover the lower part of the volcano ; 8,500 years ago, they covered vast areas. Their return is due to the abandonment of grazing land. They are used in basketry and to make divining rods, a practice that dates back to Celtic times. And according to legend, witches used hazelnuts to make their brooms.

Originally, “goule” referred to a pass separating two puys : there’s a major pass here, “le col des Goules” on the D941. The term then moved to one of the puys.

Direct access to the Goules parking lot via the D941.