The Nive has played a leading role in the development of the Bayonne river system in recent geological time by the formation of alluvial terraces that form the sub-soil of Bayonne beneath the surface accumulations of silt and aeolian sands [REF].
Before this capture the Nive had deposited pebbles from the Mindel glaciation of medium to large sizes that slowed erosion of the hills causing the bottleneck at Bayonne.