Fontaine de Saint-Georges

Character of Fontaine de Saint-Georges

Fontaine de Saint-Georges lies near Montvalent and is the main active resurgence of the underground river of the Gouffre de Padirac. The spring pool is about 30 metres in diameter. From the pool, a passage is reached at around -10 m that descends steeply over gravel to approximately -29 m. The cave then opens into a considerably larger gallery.

The first sumps

S1 extends for about 350 metres to a large air chamber with a high ceiling. S2 is much longer: for the first approximately 700 metres, the average depth is around -12 to -15 m. The profile then drops steeply to about -76 to -78 m and resurfaces after approximately 1,230 metres. A dry gallery of about 420 metres then leads to the next sumps.

🧭 Connection with Padirac

Saint-Georges is part of the extensive Padirac system. In 2003, Rick Stanton established the connection between the twelfth sump of Saint-Georges and the fifth sump downstream from Padirac. In October 2014, Clément Chaput completed the traverse from Saint-Georges to the Gouffre de Padirac.

🔎 Exploration history

The exploration history goes back to Guy de Lavaur in 1948. Between 1973 and 1975, the underground river was explored to more than a kilometre from the spring. Cyrille Brandt passed S2 in 1987. Later explorations ultimately connected the Saint-Georges network with Padirac.

🗺️ Topography Fontaine de Saint-Georges

The topography shows the longitudinal profile of the main passage, the different sumps, side passages and important depths.

COUPE DÉVELOPPÉE · longitudinal profile

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PADIRAC SYSTEM · overview

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