Riserva Naturale Lago di Lozon

The Nature Reserve

The area appears as a wide plain depressed in its central part, which is covered by the wetland. Its shape derives by the action of the glaciers which created a basin delimited downhill by a partly morainic and partly rocky barrier.
In the periphery of the plain, the soil is made of glacial deposits immersed in a silt-sandy matrix, while in the central area it is made of the same materials, but with more silt and, into the depths, with levels of silt and peats. In the lake, peat deposits are forming as a consequence of the decomposition of the abundant water vegetation which is covering step by step the basin, starting from its borders. As far as vegetation and floral richness are concerned, this is without a doubt the most interesting and rich wetland environment in the Valle d'Aosta region: there are about one hundred species typical of the wetlands, some of which are very rare or unique in the region and in the Alps (Carex appropinquata, Utricularia australis, and U. minor) and there are 15 vegetal palustrine and aquatic associations. There are many different palustrine environments according to the different level of the waters: among them, the populations of floating plants in the open waters and the intermediate peatbog. Great part of the basin is covered by a wide clod of floating peat about 1,5 meters thick. Considering the altitude, these typical vegetal species make of Lozon a unique wetland in the Valle d'Aosta region and in the inner Alps characterized by a subcontinental climate. The zooplanktonic population is particularly rich, with more than 30 species.