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Impact Cratere

Oradour is not far from The Rochechouart impact crater. It was created around 214 million years ago by a large extraterrestrial body striking the Earth. In this now gentle landscape of woods and fields, evidence of the impact may be seen in disused and working quarries, and also in the distinctive stone used in many mediaeval buildings. The castle at Rochechouart, important in the wars between England and France in Richard the Lionheart's time, is built of impact breccia.

Buildings in Oradour are built of glassy melt rocks produced by the impact.

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