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GENERAL
CHARACTERS
Lebanon is set at the extreme east of the Mediterranean Sea and has an
area of 10 452 km2. It has the shape of a rectangle which
stretches in length over 217 kilometers from the north to the south; its width
reaches a maximum of 80 kilometers in the north , then it narrows to the
south.
MORPHOLOGY
Lebanon is characterized by the presence of two mountains
positioned in parallel to the coast (the "Mount Lebanon" to the west
and the "Anti-Lebanon Mount" at
the syrian border. The two chains are divided by the plain of the Bekaa.
From the west to the east, Lebanon can be divided in 4 geographical
units:
1- A narrow plain goes along
the coast; reaching a maximum of 3 km, its width is annuled
in
certain places where the mountain dips directly into the sea. In the north, this
coastal plain
widens
near the syrian border,
2-The "Mount Lebanon"
mountain is continuous from the north to the south; it is formed of a
huge mountain mass
reaching its highest point at Qornet es-Saouda (3083 m). The summits
are constituted
of high plateau interrupted by gorges which are often deep,
3-The inner plain of the Beka is a
syncline prolonging the african rift. This
elevated region has a
mean altitude
of 1000 m, and forms a passage whose width varies from 5 to 20 km. The
plain is devoted mainly to
agricultural activities.
4-The "Anti-Lebanon"
mountain goes along the syrian border and is a little less elevated than
the
"Mount Lebanon" mountain; in the south east, the Hermon
summit rises above the
south Bekaa
and the syrian Golan and
reaches the altitude of 2814 m.
GEOLOGY
The recognized geologic layers in Lebanon
correspond to the series starting from the lower Jurassic until the Quaternary.They
consist essentially of karstic calcareous rocks with the presence of basaltic
formations in North Lebanon.The lebanese calcareous emergences originate
especially from the Jurassic and the Middle Cretaceous, while the
sedimentary deposits of the coastal strip and the Bekaa Valley have for origin
the tertiary and quaternary periods.
The general structure is characterized by great anticlines and synclines of N-S
axis affected by a major breakable tectonics whose orientation is N20 which
caused the collapse of the Bekaa, as well as a conjugated network N45 on whom
are settled the majority of the streams which cross the mountain.
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