Massif Central in the context of "Granodiorite"

A massif (/mæˈsiːf, ˈmæsɪf/) is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, massif is frequently used to denote the main mass of an individual mountain.

As a purely scientific term in geology, however, a "massif" is separately and more specifically defined as a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. A massif is a smaller structural unit than a tectonic plate and is considered the fourth-largest driving force in geomorphology.

The Loire (/lwɑːr/ LWAR, US also /luˈɑːr/ loo-AR, French: [lwaʁ] ; Occitan: Léger [ˈledʒe]; Arpitan: Lêre; Breton: Liger [ˈliːɡɛr]; Latin: Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of 1,006 kilometres (625 mi), it drains 117,054 km (45,195 sq mi), more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône.

It rises in the southeastern quarter of the French Massif Central in the Cévennes range (in the department of Ardèche) at 1,350 m (4,430 ft) near Mont Gerbier de Jonc; it flows north through Nevers to Orléans, then west through Tours and Nantes until it reaches the Bay of Biscay (Atlantic Ocean) at Saint-Nazaire. Its main tributaries include the rivers Nièvre, Maine and the Erdre on its right bank, and the rivers Allier, Cher, Indre, Vienne, and the Sèvre Nantaise on the left bank.

The Western Alps are the western part of the Alpine Range including the southeastern part of France (e.g. Savoie), the whole of Monaco, the northwestern part of Italy (i.e. Piedmont and the Aosta Valley) and the southwestern part of Switzerland (e.g. Valais). In the southeast the range is bounded by the Italian Padan Plain. In the west, the valley of the Rhone river separates it from the Massif Central. The northernmost part of the Western Alps - in the wide meaning of the term - is formed by the Swiss Prealps Sub-Range.

The peaks and mountain passes are higher compared to the Eastern Alps, while the range itself is not so broad and more arched.

Orléans (US: /ˌɔːrleɪˈɒ̃, ˌɔːrliˈɑːn, ɔːrˈleɪənz/; French: [ɔʁleɑ̃] ) is a city in north-central France, about 120 kilometres (74 miles) southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the department of Loiret and of the region of Centre-Val de Loire.

Orléans is located on the river Loire nestled in the heart of the Loire Valley, a region classified as a World Heritage Site where the river curves south towards the Massif Central. In 2020, the city had 117,026 inhabitants within its municipal boundaries. Orléans is the center of Orléans Métropole that has a population of 290,346. The larger metropolitan area has a population of 454,208, the 20th largest in France.

The Variscan orogeny or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. It remains visible today as a series of isolated massifs, including the Ardennes, Bohemian Massif, Vosges-Black Forest, Armorican Massif, Cornubian Massif, Massif Central, and Iberian System. These are interspersed with Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary basins. The chain also crops out in southern Ireland and was later incorporated into the Alpine orogeny (external crystalline massifs) and Pyrenean orogeny. These ancient massifs form the pre-Permian basement of western and Central Europe, part of a larger mountain system stretching from the Ural Mountains in Russia to the Appalachian Mountains in North America.

The chain originated from the convergence and collision of three continental masses: the microcontinent Armorica and the supercontinents Protogondwana and Laurussia (a union of Laurentia and Baltica from the Caledonian orogeny). This convergence contributed to the formation of the supercontinent Pangaea.

The Paris Basin (French: Bassin parisien) is one of the major geological regions of France. It developed since the Triassic over remnant uplands of the Variscan orogeny (Hercynian orogeny). The sedimentary basin, no longer a single drainage basin, is a large sag in the craton, bordered by the Armorican Massif to the west, the Ardennes-Brabant axis to the north, the Massif des Vosges to the east, and the Massif Central to the south.