Reculée de Montagna-le-Reconduit

The formation of the reculées is an exceptional phenomenon and involves a combination of different subsoil features. Under the effect of tectonic movements, the layers of rock - limestone and marl superimposed - are fractured and faulted vertically. Erosion then takes place, with water dissolving and seeping into the countless cracks and fissures left by the pressures that lifted the Jura. Subterranean conduits are created, giving rise to stream and river beds in the limestone. The interior of the plateau is cut deeper and deeper by the flow of water, causing the cliffs to gradually collapse. This forms the reculée, an immense rocky cirque known as the "end of the world".


Montagna-le-Reconduit is located in a recession in the Revermont, in the western fold of the Jura mountains, at the foot of the first Jura plateau, and to the east of the Bresse plain.

The Besançon river rises at the foot of the Montagna-le-Reconduit retreat and cascades down to the Bresse at the bottom of a wooded gorge. Although only 13 km long, its course was used by no fewer than twenty-four mills, a sawmill, marble works, a cardboard factory, the Balanod spinning mill and a mini hydroelectric power station. Along the route of the Besançon between Montagne-le-Reconduit and Balanod, you can discover the remains of this artisanal activity.