[Un article de The Conversation écrit par Élodie Pourret-Saillet – Enseignante-chercheuse en géologie structurale, UniLaSalle – & Olivier Pourret – Enseignant-chercheur en géochimie et responsable intégrité scientifique et science ouverte, UniLaSalle]
We invite you to look at an unexpected aspect of Disneyland: its geological dimension. Not that of the basement on which the park is built, but that of the landscapes it stages. Because the Imagineers (The designers of the park attractions and sets have often been inspired by very real natural training to create the enchanting and sometimes disturbing decorations that the public admires every day.
Mountains east of Paris
Take Big Thunder Mountain, undoubtedly the most iconic mountain in the park, in the area inspired by the American Far West.
Its red rocks due to the presence of iron oxides and steep cliffs are directly inspired by the emblematic natural sites of the American West such as Monument Valley Tribal Park, Arches National Park or the Goblin Valley State Park, between Arizona and Utah.
These emblematic sites are made up of sandstone of 160 million to 180 million years old, Navajo and Esta sandstones (or Navajo and Entrada Sandstones). These sandstones of very strong porosities have been used for several decades as “analogues of rock-reservoirs” by geologists, that is to say as the equivalent on the surface of deep tanks in order to understand the flow of fluids.
In addition, in addition to their visually spectacular aspect, it was in the Navajo Sandstones that geologists were able to develop the current models of growth of faults. The presence of these tectonic flaws and fractures is particularly well represented on the decorations of Big Thunder Mountain. In particular, the creators respected the relationship between the thickness of the geological layers and the spacing of fractures, which corresponds to a precise and respected mathematical model.
This reproduction is not by chance. From the 1950s, Walt Disney in person wanted to integrate natural landscapes into his parks for their evocative power.
These mountains have become icons and find themselves in Disney films as Indiana Jones and the last crusade (1989) at the beginning of which the young Indy waged his first fight to remove relics from the tombs in the Arches National Park. For them Imagineersit was a question of recreating a dream West, but based on well identifiable geological benchmarks, a way of anchoring fiction in a tangible world.
The dragon cave: underground and imaginary geology
Another striking example: the Dragon's den, nestled under the castle of Sleeping Beauty. This unique attraction in Disneyland Paris features an animatronic dragon 27 meters long, tapi in a dark and humid cave.
The decor recalls the endokarsts, these limestone caves networks that are found in particular in the south of France (such as Aven Armand) (Lozère), in Slovenia or in China.
Stalactites, watering water, rough walls are all elements that evoke very real processes: dissolution of limestone by acid water, formation of concretions, sedimentation …
The only part of this underground reconstruction: the brutal passage of a limestone to a granite substrate, on which the park castle rests. However, these rocks have very different origins: limestones are sedimentary, magmatic granites, formed in depth by cooling magma. Their neighborhood is rare, except in certain tectonic contexts, such as along large flaws or in contact metamorphism zones, where granite heats up and transforms neighboring sediments. An example exists in the Massif Central, between Limousin granites and limestones from Quercy. This configuration, although possible, remains infrequent and is based on complex structures, which are difficult to represent in a park. It therefore simplifies a geological history of hundreds of millions of years to the extreme.
But, obviously, nothing here is natural. Everything is reconstituted in concrete, fiberglass or resin. The effect is however striking. Visitors plunge into a credible underground universe, because it is based on a fantasized but largely realistic geology.
The jungle hides frozen volcanic flows
In the part of the park called Adventure Isle, the visitor crosses a lush jungle populated by underground galleries, suspended bridges and waterfalls. But behind this exotic vegetation are also hidden from the typical geological forms of tropical or volcanic regions: rounded rocky blocks, granite chaos, rocky pitons and even basalt organs.
We can notably identify on the rocky piton named Spyglass Hill, near the Robinson hut and the suspension bridge, formations in vertical columns. These evoke basalt organs, as can be observed on the roadway of the giants in Northern Ireland or in Usson (Puy-de-Dôme) in Auvergne.
These geometric structures result from the slow cooling of basalt lava flows, which contract by forming hexagonal prisms. Although the Disney versions are artificial, they are clearly inspired by these natural phenomena and add a volcanic touch to the tropical decor.
The decor of the Temple of the Indiana Jones attraction and the Temple of the peril, on the other hand, recalls that of the Angkor site in Cambodia, which is built on sandstones and laterite (alteration formations forming under hot and humid climates). The stones covered with foam, the faults and the roots infiltrating there, simulate an interaction between the rock and the living. This type of landscape evokes very real processes: chemical alteration, erosion in humid tropical environment and fracturing of rocks.
By combining volcanic geology and tropical landscapes, this part of the park becomes a synthesis of various geological environments. However, the reconstruction of a natural environment so varied on a limited surface requires its limits here. Indeed, each type of rock presented here corresponds to a precise geodynamic environment, and the whole can hardly coexist in nature.
When Snow White was already digging for gems: Disneyland minerals
Long before the Far West mountains or the Dragons caves, the first evocation of geology in the Disney universe dates back to Snow White, in 1937. Remember: the seven dwarfs work in a gem mine where diamonds, ruby and other sparkling precious stones. This scene, reinterpreted in the park shops and attractions, helped to forge an enchanted but persistent vision of minerals in the collective imagination.
In Disneyland Paris, we find this symbolism in the windows, under the Sleeping Beauty Castle or in certain attractions like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the Aladdin cave, where the colored crystals sparkle in the mining galleries.
These minerals, although fanciful, are often inspired by real specimens such as diamonds, quartz, amethysts or topaz. In reality, these crystals result from slow geological processes, linked to the pressure, temperature and chemical composition of the subsoil and these minerals are not present in the same geographic areas simultaneously.
A hidden but omnipresent science
At first glance, Disneyland Paris seems to be light years in earth sciences. And yet, each rocky decor, each artificial landscape is based on precise geological knowledge: types of rocks, forms of erosion, colors, textures …
This approach is also comparable to that used in cinema, especially in Disney-Pixar films as Cars (2006), where the sets are validated by geographers.
Why not take advantage of a visit to the park to educate visitors to these aspects? As is already the case for the remarkable trees of the park, an educational description of places of geological interest could be proposed. A kind of “geology of the imaginary”, which would make it possible to link science and pop culture. After all, if a child can recognize a stalactite in a cave in Disneyland, he may also recognize it in nature.
With an unwavering passion for local news, Christopher leads our editorial team with integrity and dedication. With over 20 years’ experience, he is the backbone of Wouldsayso, ensuring that we stay true to our mission to inform.
