That is a natural, circular, shallow depression caused by the removal of fairly loose, mainly Pliocene, sediment by wind erosion, during very cold, windy phases of the Quaternary period.

It is the largest of a number of such deflation pans in this area.

[1][2] The former lake of Villeneuve-de-la-Raho had a size of 150 hectares (370 acres).

Considered useless, it was dried in 1854, and the land was then used for agriculture.

Recovered by the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales, it was filled with water and became a lake once again in 1977.