Geological Formation of the French Alps

The amount of material written on the formation of the Alps is absolutely staggering. As you read my story, you may want to go back to your high school days and try to recall what you learned about the four geological eras. The primary era was marked by the formation of mountain massifs that are now eroded but have left a considerable amount of crystalline rock on this planet. The secondary era was marked by millions of years of ocean invasion over the existing solid rock expanses and the formation of sedimentary rock layers over this crystalline base. The third era was marked by the upsurge of many crystalline mountain massifs, which are still only moderately eroded and quite high. The Alps are one of those in Europe, the Rocky Mountains one in America. The Quaternary period is the geological period in which we are now living. At its onset, it was characterized by a successive number of very important glaciations, remnants of which are still visible in the ice caps of both poles and the valley glaciers that cover many mountain massifs all over the world.