page_title: Auvergne
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Auvergne / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Chaîne des Puys (département du Puy-de-Dôme, Auvergne). Panorama du sommet du Puy de Dôme allant du Puy de Come à gauche jusqu'au Puy de Pariou. English: Panorama from the summit of the Puy de Dôme. The panaroma goes from the Puy de Come on the left to the Puy de Pariou on the right. Photographie prise par / Picture taken by Romary le/the 16 juillet 2005/July the 16th of 2005.
context_page_description: Auvergne is a former administrative region of France. It is now part of the administrative region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is in the Massif Central in south-central France. The inhabitants of the region are known as Auvergnats.
  The four departments in Auvergne were Allier, Cantal, Haute-Loire, and Puy-de-Dôme. Its capital was Clermont-Ferrand.
context_section_description: The Auvergne region has an area of 26,013 km² (10,044 sq mi), 4.8% of France's total surface area. It was surrounded by six other former regions: Burgundy to the northeast, Rhône-Alpes to the east and to the southeast, Languedoc-Roussillon to the south, Midi-Pyrénées to the southwest, Limousin to the west and Centre-Val de Loire to the northwest.
  The landscape of the region varies greatly, with valleys, mountain, meadows and forests. Much of the regions is in the Massif Central, a high region in south-central France with mountains and plateaus.
  There are many dormant volcanoes (volcanoes that are not active) in Auvergne, mainly in the Monts Dore and in the Chaîne des Puys. The highest point in Auvergne is the Puy de Sancy (45°31′42″N 2°48′50″E), at 1,885 m (6,184 ft) high.
  The northern part of the region (in the Allier department) is a land of small hills cut in two parts by a plain, the valley of the Allier river.
  Auvergne has about 50 freshwater ponds and lakes. Some are high in the mountains and have volcanic origins. The Guéry Lake is, at 1,244 m (4,081 ft) high in the Puy-de-Dôme department, the highest lake in Auvergne.
  The main rivers of the region are the:
  Loire, that runs through the Haute-Loire in the southeast and then, after returning from the Rhône-Alpes region, makes the northeastern border of the Allier department; and
  Allier, that runs though the centre of the region.
caption: The "Chaîne des Puys" in Puy-de-Dôme
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