Aimargues 4.84

Aimargues is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. The town of Aimargues may have Roman origins and is situated beside the Vidourle River on the floodplain of the River Rhône. Traditionally it has been an agricultural and wine-producing community but it now also has a number of new industries and employers who benefit from excellent road connections to the north of France as well as to Spain and Italy.GeographyLocated some 26km to the southwest of Nîmes, close to the border with the Hérault department, Aimargues can be easily accessed from the nearby Autoroute A9. Aimargues also has a railway station on the line from Saint-Césaire to Le Grau-du-Roi.The Petite Camargue is an area of wetlands on the west side of the delta of the Rhône River in southern France. Aimargues is a small town in the Petite Camargue beside the River Vidourle which rises in the Cévennes Mountains to the northwest. Some 6,000 years BC much of the interior of the Petite Carmargue was occupied by a lagoon, l’étang de l’or, which was separated from the sea by a sandy bar. Since then the lake has become progressively silted up. The countryside around Aimargues is flat and the soil is rich, being accumulated sediment brought down the River Rhône and deposited in its delta and surrounding area during flooding. As well as agricultural land there are levees, creeks, marshes, brackish ponds, lagoons and dunes in the area.