Located 1 kilometre south of Crégols, on the Causse de Limogne, the Igue de Crégols suddenly opens up. With a diameter of roughly 80 metres and a maximum depth of approximately 40 metres, it punches through the limestone of the causse.
Documentation
Village of Crégols: 44° 27’ 25” N 1° 41’ 59” E.
Accessible on foot from the village: follow the arrows on the “Talking Trail”, the Chemin de l’Igue (a brochure presenting the hiking loop is also available at the town hall).
Igue is a local term use to designate a chasm. The Igue de Crégols is a sinkhole, a form typical of karst areas which is commonly found in the Causses du Quercy.
Like the Igues d’Aujols, the Igue de Crégols is a gorgeous, spectacular example of a karst sinkhole. Its formation was the result of the gradual dissolution of limestone by water, resulting in the creation of “vacuums” which caused the subsoil to subside. Here, that phenomenon (typical of karst environments) is connected to the Crégols Spring which drains the water from part of the Causse de Limogne.
Hidden biodiversity?
In the middle of the chasm, a hole between fallen rocks is known for exhaling a particularly cool, tangible current of air in the summertime. Hopes for caving discoveries there are low, because it sits atop the enormous mass of fallen rocks which occupies the whole bottom of the chasm. However, little-known cave microfauna (troglobionts*) could be concealed within it, and it is very possible that new species may be uncovered there. At least, that is what initial samples suggest, that were taken from this site as part of a study sponsored by the Park in partnership with the Lot Department Speleology Committee and the National Museum of Natural History.
* Troglobiont: a species which cannot survive outside of caves.
Marko Lukic, 2015. Oritoniscusvandeli (3 mm): this little woodlouse-like creature, frequently found in the caves of Quercy, has been observed in the Igue de Crégols, amongst other sites.
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Other points of geological interest:
As you head towards the chasm on the “Talking Trail”, you will pass nearby the Crégols re-emergence, that collects water from a large sector of the Causse de Limogne. That re-emergence can be entered by cave diving. Since the 1970s, it has gradually been explored along a distance of 1,300 metres and up to a level of 50 metres below the Lot.
