Turquoise quarry lake in Les Baux-de-Provence

This lake is entirely man-made. Les Baux-de-Provence gave its name to bauxite, the aluminium ore discovered here in 1821 by geologist Pierre Berthier. Mining left excavations in the limestone, now filled with water whose saturated turquoise comes from the contrast between the white limestone and the ochre-red iron clays left bare on the walls. The photo was taken on 25 May 2021 in late afternoon, by drone at low altitude, to frame the site's three sharp colours: the dark green of the pines, the ochre of the rock and this almost artificial blue. That contrast, rare in the Alpilles, is what gives the image its value more than the lake itself.