GEOLOGY OF LEBANON & THE REGION

Objectives

 Understand the geology nature in lebanon

 Be familiar with the lebanese and the region geology

 Recognize the geological structures of lebanon

 Geology of lebanon

 General information about our region

 The Mediterranean Sea

 Sedimentation

 Emergence of the Thetis sediments

 the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods

 Physical Geology

 Study the Physical aspects of the Earth in lebanon

 Sedimentary Rocks

 Metamorphic Rocks

 Igneous Rocks
 Grades

 Mid term 1 25%

 Class participation & contribution 5%

 Fileds trips, Projects 30%

 Final Exam 40%

 Geology of lebanon

 You do Not need to be a student of geology. only the

major features of the geology of these countries are
discussed.
 Considerable attention is given to the dead sea region,
because of its biblical interest, and because of the
tremendous geological phenomena of which it has
been the seat. Of late its economic possibilities have
attracted much attention.
 Geology of lebanon

 We know little of Arabia, but we do realize that

there and in Sinai and Egypt are situated the
ancient rocks, the washing of which have been
carried to the north and deposited in the bed of
the sea (Thetis) in which for long ages
accumulated the sediments which were finally
lifted up to become the mountains and plains of
Syria, Palestine and transjordania, as well as the
northern parts of Arabia and Egypt.
 Overview Geology

 Those who desire detailed information should

consult the works of fraas ,noeting,
Blanckenhorn, hull, zumoffen and others.
 Geology of levant

 This course will states the main features of the

principal geological ages, describes a few of
the most important rocks and minerals, and the
most important classes of the animals which
occur as fossils .it is intended to be consulted to
facilitate the understanding of certain
statements and technical terms.
 Thetis Sea

 During the Jurassic and cretaceous periods, what is now

the Mediterranean sea was immensely larger. It covered
some portions of southern Europe, much of north Africa,
nearly all of Syria, Palastine, and the Arabian desert and
Iraq, and extended eastward over northern India,
including the region where now stand the mighty
Himalayas, and over parts of southern china.
 Thetis Sea

 To distinguish this from the actual Mediterranean

of today, edouard sues, the eminent Austrian
geologist gave to the much larger sea of jurrasic
and cretaceous times the name thetis, after a
sea nymph of the Greek mythology, a name
which has been accepted by geologists
generally .
 Thetis Sea

 In those times the continents had a different

grouping from that of today. There was a
northern group, consisting of the central and
northern parts of Europe and Asia and most of
north America, and a southern group comprising
southern india, part of Arabia, Madagascar,
central and southern Africa and south America.
these northern and southern continental masses
were separated by the thetis sea
Emergence of the Thetis Sediments

 The cretaceus period was followed by the tertiary age, whose main
divisions are the Eocene,Miocene and pliocene periods.it was
during the eocene and miocene periods that extensive earth
movements took place, movements by which the thetis sea was
very greatly reduced in size, and great mountain system were
formed by the uplifting of the bottom of the sea.
 These movements gave birth to the alps and other mountains of
southern europe and the himalayas.
 At the same time lebanon and antilebanon, the judeanhills and the
western mountains of persia came into being,together with the
plateau which constitutes the arabian desert and its continuation
southward into transjordania and arabia.
Lebanon and Anticline due to
lateral Pressure
 The sediments which had been deposited during the jurassic and
creacteous periods on the bottom of the thetis sea were not equally
thick in all places.
 In what became syria , the thickest were on the site of the future
Lebanon and Antilelebanon.
 the lower portion of a thickness mass of sediments is affected by the
interior heat of the earth,and is partially or completely melted. Such
a region becomes therefore less firm and rigid than regions of less
sedimentation.
Lebanon and Anticline due to
lateral Pressure
 The emergence of the sea bottom was accomplished by the action
of forces acting horizontally in the earth’s crust .
 Under the influence of this lateral pressure, the regions of less
sedimentation are lifted up with little or no folding , and become
plains or plateaus.
Lebanon and Anticline due to
lateral Pressure
 Where the crust however is weakened by the heating and
softening of thick sediments ,the strata are folded, commonly in the
form of an arch ,called an anticline, and are frequently fractured,
both parallel and perpendicular to the axis of the fold.
 Faults

 Often the rock on the two sides of a fracture is dislocated, one side
being pushed up and the other side down ,so that the two parts of
a strarum are no longer continuous with each other .This is called a
fault.
 Origin of Fossils

 Syria,Palastine, Transjordania, the arabian Desert ,Iraq and northern

arabia were on the bottom of the thetis sea during the long jurrasic
and cretaceous periods,certainly for some millions of years,and in
the sediments were embedded quantities of jurrassic and
cretaceous fossils.
 After the plateaus and the mountains had emerged from the sea
they were subjected to weathering and other form of erosion.
 Peaks,mountain ranges and valleys were carved out and fossisls
which had been buried under thousands of feet of sedimentary
rocks were exposed to view.they may be found today when we
break open the rocks in which they are contained .
 Origin of fossils

 Many other fossils are found lying on the surface of the ground
because they are harder or more resistant to chemical action than
the rocks in which they were embedded. They have resisted the
forces of erosion and weathering which have dissolved away the
surrounding rock or reduced it to sand or mud.
 Some people fancied that these fossils are relics of Noah’s flood,a
theory which might have some plausibility if it concerned only the
fossils which are lying loose on the surface of the ground, and if it did
not have to face the fact that they are very different from animals
and plats which are living today or were living in the days of noah.
Origin of fossils

 Moreover these same fossils are found out not

only on the surface of the ground or under
recent sediments,but are also found embedded
in rocks thousands of feet below the surface.
Relative ages of strata

 Fossisls are found in stratified rocks,never in volcanic rocks or in

other rocks which have been subjected to intense heat.Apart from
the very slight knowledge to be obtained from deep mines or
wells,our main knowldge of the fossils in the deeper starta is due to
the fact that they have been exposed by the erosion which has
carved out the mountains and valleys.
 On the sides of a mountain or valley we find the strata or layers
arranged one above another, and, when we compare the fossils of
these strata with animals or plants now living, we invariably find that
the fossils of the upper strata are more like living forms than those in
the deeper strata.
The Jurassic and cretaceous
periods
 The jurassic and cretaceous. To which the rocks of Syria and some of
the neighbouring countries chiefly belong,are the second and third
of the three periods of the mesozoic ara,which has sometimes been
called the age of reptiles.
Dinasours and other reptiles

 To the mesozoic ara belong the diansours,of which some

remarkable fossils have been found,notably in the united states and
in mongolia. The dinasoours were terrestrial repiltes ,some of them
modern reptiles.
 Some of them had large hind feet and tail and small front feet like
kangaroos, and the hind feet had three toes like many birds.
 Their tracks have been found abundantly on slabs of sandstone in
the connecticut valley and elsewhere,and were at first thought by
some to be bird tracks.
 There is a remarkable resemblance in the structure of the ankle joint
between dinosaurs and birds.
Fossils of land and of sea animals

 The only fossils of diansours which have been found in the

sedimentary rocks of syria are isolated and often fragmentary
bones,which may have been washed down into the sea by the
rivers flowing into it.
 Land animals have much less chance of fossilzation than marine
animals.
 They are more exposed to destruction by other animals and by the
elements.
 Marine animals may be readily preserved by being covered by the
sediments which are constantly being deposited in the bottom of
the sea.
Molluscan Fossils

 Much the most common of all fossils are mollusks whose shells are
easily preserved.
 Mollusks are not of great account among living animals,but they are
the most importnat of fossils by reason of their abundance,and they
are of extreme value in establishing the age of strata.
 In the mesozic era,bivalve,or lamellibranch and gastropod mollusks
become for the first time common.they are very common today.
 Among modern kinds are such lamellibranchs as the oyster,clam
mussel,scallop,and such gastropods as land,fresh water and sea
snails,periwinkles,whelks and limpets.
ammonities

 A mollusk found only in the mesozoic is the ammonite, a spiral

cephalopod resembling the chambered nautilus.the chambers of
the nautilus are separated from each other by smooth,curved septa
or partitions, but in the ammonite these septa,while smooth in the
middle,are much wrinkled towards the margin.
 The line formed by the junction of the wall of the shell with the edge
of the septum is called the suture.since the septum of the nautilus is
smooth, the suture is a curve line.
 The wrinkled margin of the septum of the ammonite makes the
suture very complicated and irregular.
The three main formations of
lebanon
 There are three main divisions of the rocks of lebanon, the lower
limestone, the sandstone and the upper limestone.
 Figure 7
 The lower limestone of Lebanon is of upper Jurassic age. it is found
especially in the bottom of the great valleys. It is the lowest
formation of Lebanon and it is base has nowhere been exposed in
Lebanon.
 In kasrawan north of the dog river, the upper limestone and the
sandstone have been removed by erosion and the lower limestone
is the superficial formation at a height of from 1000 to 4000 feet. The
same thing has happened in middle lebanon from the beirut-
damascus road to tawmat niha twin peaks near jazzin east of sidon.
The three main formations of
lebanon
 Here also the upper limstone and the sandstone have been
removed ,and the lower limestone forms the summit of the main
ridge at heights of from 4000 to 7000 feet.
 This is well seen at ayn zahalta and baruk . Mount hermon, whose
height is about 9000 feet has the same structure.
 At ayn zahlta ,at baruk and on the western slope of hermon, the
upper limestone and the sandstone are easily to be seen resting
upon the lower limestone and bending upward,but before a great
height has been attained they break off and the lower limestone
continues alone to the summit.
Characters of the lower limestone

 The lower limestone of Lebanon is several thousand feet

in thickness.
 Most of it is a dense,grey limestone, with flints at each
horizon, but for the most part poor in fossils.
 The fossils include various sponges, corals, brachiopods (
Terebratula and rhyn-chonella , a large natica ( a
gasttropod).
Weathering of the lower limestone

 In kasrwan especially near ajaltun and ryfu, the lower limestone has
been exposed to the elements for long ages, and has been hewn
into beautiful ,castellated forms,the outer surfaces worn by trickling
water into vertical grooves with sharp edges.
 Near nab-ul-laban, the rock is weathered into close-set ,sharp
pinnacles,between which are deep,narrow hollows with grooves
and sharp edges which might almost cut to pieces anyone so
unlucky as to fall into them.
The sandstone

 The sandtone of lebanon is a northward extension of the nubian

sandtone of upper and eastern egypt,sinai,arabia and tranjordania
.
 its brown or dark red colour makes it easily recognizable from a
distance. Its recognition is further faciliated by the groves of stone
pine which are often planted on it,and to the growth of which it
seems to be particularly favorable.
 Its thickness in lebanon is from few hundred to thouusand feet,and it
is every-where bounded above by the upper limestone and below
by the lower limestone.
The sandstone

 In transjordania, it attains a much greater thickness ,several

thousand feet in the vicinity of Petra, whose tombs, and temples
and altars are all carved in it.
 While the colour is usually a radish brown it maybe black or white or
various shade of polish gray or pink.
 This diversity of colorizations found markedly at Petra but also in
some places in Lebanon. It is also varies greatly in firmness and
texture.
 It was sometimes so hard as to be used for mill stones, and in other
places it may be easily dug with the pick .
The sandstone

 Throughout most of its thickness it is devoid of fossils, but in its upper

parts, especially where it becomes somewhat calcareous,it yields
an abundance of fossils.
 A characteristic fossil is the bivalve,trigonia .
The limits of the sandstone

 In Lebanon, as just stated, it is limited above by the upper limestone,

which is of upper cretaceous age, and below by the lower
limestone which is upper Jurassic.
 The sandstone in Lebanon is therefore wholly lower cretaceous. The
upper limit is everywhere the same in Lebanon, transjordania,
Arabia, Sinai and Egypt. But in the south the lower limit is very
variable.
 In Egypt it rests on very ancient crystalline
rocks,gneiss,granite,schist,gabbro and others, which belong to the
pre-cambrian era.
 At ghawr-us safiya at the southeast at the southeast corner of the
dead sea,it rests upon a cambrian limestone containing
The limit of the sandstone

 Characteristic trilobites and brachiopods. In sinai it rests upon a

mass of carboniferous limestone and sandstone, which in turn
overlies the ancient crystalline rocks.
 The lower limestone,which forms the lower limit of the sandstone in
lebanon ,anti lebanon and hermon is not found further south .
 In transjordania there are limited tracks of triassic and jurrasic clays
and limestone interclatted with starta of the sandstone.
 The facts that these tracks are between layers of the sandstones
shows that the portion of the sandstones which are below them are
older than they.
The limit of the sandstone

 The age of sandstone must be stated as being very variable in it s

lower parts ,but with a constant upper limit .
 In the north it ranges from upper jurrasic to upper cracteous ,in the
south from pre cambrian ,from cambrian ,or from carboneferoius to
upper creactceous
The upper limestone

 In lebanon the upper limestone forms the upper courses of the arch
or anticline.
 Like the sandstone and the lower limestone which form the lower
courses of the arch, it appears at heights varying from sea level to
the summit of the range. In places it is entirely worn away,leaving
the sandstone on the surface,and in places the sandstone also has
disappeared, leaving the lower limestone on the surface.see figure
7-9.
 Some of its strata are as hard as any of the lower limestone, others
are composed of clay, marl or soft, chalky limestone.
 It is much more fossiliferous than either the sandstone or the lower
limestone, particularly some of the clayey strata.
THE LANDSCAPE

 The three fundamental divisions of Lebanon; a western Mount Lebanon rising

to 3083m, a central Bekaa Valley and an eastern Jebel Lubnan al Sharqi
or Anti-Lebanon Range figure 1 with Mount Hermon at 2814 m should be
known by every student. It is worth remembering that the Bekaa is almost
everywhere above 850m in altitude and that this is as high as some of the
highest mountains of many countries. One other feature should mentioned
at this point because it is frequently overlooked. This is that the continental
shelf of Lebanon is very narrow indeed (it has a maximum width of ten
kilometres, see figure 3) and drops down abruptly to water depths of 1500m.
We know very little about what lies off the coast of Lebanon and the area
has not been mapped in detail figure 2. Beyond this shelf break, which is cut
by deep canyons, lies what must be ancient ocean crust.
 figure 3: Schematic east west
cross section across northern
Lebanon
Figure 1: simplified geological map
of Lebanon
Figure 2 :simplified structural map
 Lebanese Rivers

 The rivers of Lebanon can be divided into two groups. The first group
is made up of the east-west rivers, mostly cut into steep gorges,
which drain Mount Lebanon. The second group is that of the two
large rivers of the Bekaa; the Litani, which flows south and eventually
cuts through to the Mediterranean and the Nahr al Assi which flows
northwards into Syria.
Folds in lebanon

 There is a hierarchy of folds in Lebanon. The major geological

structures of the Area, Mount Lebanon, the Bekaa figure 3 and the
Anti-Lebanon (see Figure1 and 2) are basically two very large NNE-
SSW trending anticlines separated by a large syncline. They have
however been broken up and disrupted later by a series of major
and minor faults. These form what we can call the first order
structures or mega structures.
Folds Lebanon
 Smaller folds occur locally but, in general, the brittle limestone rocks
of the region have deformed more by faulting than folding. Perhaps
the most spectacular folds are the overturned beds at Nabi Ayoub
along the southwestern part of the Baruk-Niha ridge. Immediately
east of the Yammouneh Fault a number of small NE-SW trending
anticlines occur. Other good folds occur in the Tripoli area (i.e. at
Jebel Terbol).
Faults

 Lebanon is cut by faults of every scale. Figure 2 merely shows some of the main ones. The longest
fault in Lebanon is the Yammouneh Fault that runs along the western margin of the Bekaa and
links the major fault of the Jordan Valley to the Ghab Valley Fault of Northern Syria. This is a lateral,
or strike slip fault and is the Lebanese segment of the Dead Sea Transform Fault . It originated
around 12 to 10 million years ago as the boundary between the Arabia Plate and the Levantine
part of the African Plate and has been moving since. The result of this is that the Bekaa has
moved some 50 km northwards with respect to Mount Lebanon. The evidence suggests that the
Yammouneh Fault has not moved for many thousands of years; and whether it is dead or
dormant is not clear. We would dearly love to know will move again. Like many large faults the
Yammouneh Fault is not actually very impressive on the ground and is often only marked by a
wide breccia zone.
Faults

 The Roum Fault, which runs from near Marjayoun towards Beirut is
probably where most of the plate tectonic motion is going on now
and may be the present plate boundary between the Arabian and
the African Plate. One model is that the plate motion has fairly
recently (in geological terms) switched from the Yammouneh to the
Roum Fault. The last recent earthquakes in Lebanon have been
along this fault including the Chhim earthquake of 1956 that caused
many deaths and much damage. One slightly worrying point is that
the Roum Fault seems to be on line for Beirut. If it does have an
active fault segment near (or even under) the capital then that
must raise the earthquake risk.
Faults

 There are other major faults particularly in the Anti-Lebanon. The

main highway to Damascus shows a good deal of faulting in the
road cuts as it passes through this area. The Serghaya Fault in
particular is apparently another major strike slip fault.
 There many other faults in Lebanon with displacements ranging from
a few centimeters to several kilometers. Working out which are
major faults, and which are minor, is not easy.
Volcanoes Lebanon

 There is no current volcanic activity within Lebanon. However within the last ten
million years there was large-scale basaltic volcanism both in the extreme north of
Lebanon with the Homs Basalts, which extend into the Akkar and in the extreme
southeast where the Golan and Jebel Druze volcanics occur round Mount Hermon.
The Golan volcanism in particular seems to have died out very recently, probably
within the last 10,000 years. The very much older Jurassic and Cretaceous volcanics
are discussed in connection with the geological history in Section Two.

 Older and subtler volcanic features can be seen exist in a number of Late Jurassic
volcanic vents. There is a good one at Aintoura on the Dour Choueir-Zahle road. But
even here you need a lot of imagination to see it as smoking volcano emitting lava.
Rock types in lebanon

 Almost all the rocks in Lebanon are sedimentary rocks and most of
these are pale limestones. These and/or the snow cover may be the
origin of the name as L-B-N is 'white' in the Semitic languages.
Despite the vast thicknesses of limestone I have to say that the
variation in limestone types is rather limited; much of it is so fine
grained that it needs a microscope to show any interesting features.
The most varied sequence of sediments is that which extends from
Late Jurassic to the Middle Cretaceous (see Fig. 5) and shows a
considerable variety of limestones, sandstones, clays and volcanic
ashes. The ashes tend to weather to a bright red or purple colour
and to give fertile soils.
LEBANON IN ITS REGIONAL PLATE
TECTONIC SETTING
 I find it useful to explain to students what is happening in the modern
Middle East in plate tectonic terms. Firstly, it helps them understand
Lebanon .Secondly the Middle East area provides excellent
examples of plate tectonic processes.
 Figure 4 shows the region diagrammatically. The overall theme for
the last sixty million years has been that the great oceanic seaway,
the Tethys, which once lay to the north of the Arabia, has almost
been entirely consumed as Africa and Arabia have collided with
Eurasia.
LEBANON IN ITS REGIONAL PLATE
TECTONIC SETTING
 The first main collision between what we can call the Africa-Arabia
Plate and Eurasia took place around 40 million years ago. As it
continued it gave rise to the Taurus and Zagros Mountain Ranges.
For reasons not yet fully explained, but possibly due to the nature of
the collision the Arabia part of the African Plate kept on moving
north and rifted away from the larger African body. The spreading
ocean that resulted is the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The
movement of this new plate past the Levantine protrusion of the
African Plate has given rise to the Dead Sea Transform Fault zone.
LEBANON IN ITS REGIONAL PLATE
TECTONIC SETTING
 In summary we have:
 A divergent or spreading boundary is well shown by the Red Sea which now forms
what can be called an embryonic ocean.
 The continent-continent type of destructive or convergent boundary is well seen in
the Taurus and Zagros ranges which represents where the old Tethys ocean has been
completely destroyed. An ocean-continent collision can be seen along the northern
part of the Gulf of Oman along the edge of the Makran and along the arc which
extends from Cyprus to the northeast. In both cases fragments of the Tethys are still
being consumed.
 The Dead Sea Fault System forms an excellent transform margin between the Arabian
Plate and the Levantine part of the African Plate. Both are moving northwards but
the Arabian plate is moving faster.
 The Middle East has therefore all three types of plate boundary and if textbooks were
written here rather than in the States we would doubtless be in it as a wonderful
example.
RESOURCES OF LEBANON

 Lebanon has only limited geological resources. Iron oxides occur

locally in the mountains and were some of the first iron ores to be
exploited; by the 7th century BC Lebanese iron was being exported
to Babylon. Unfortunately iron smelting requires high temperatures
and as wood was the only fuel this was a major factor in the
catastrophic deforestation. The limestone has also been used as a
building stone and for fertiliser and cement. The last two processes
also use wood and have contributed to the deforestation.
RESOURCES OF LEBANON

 There is no oil known and the general opinion is rather negative

about prospects. The main problem seems to be that the heavy
faulting has fractured any possible oil reservoirs and allowed water
to get in. However drilling programs have been minimal and oil may
exist at depth. The narrow continental shelf means that any offshore
oil fields, even if they exist are not likely to be extensive. Some
bitumen has been recorded along the southern flanks of the Bekaa
but this may only be a leakage of immature oil and may be no
indicator of major oil fields at depth.
RESOURCES OF LEBANON

 The chief natural resource is water. The mountains give a high

rainfall (widely over a meter a year in Mount Lebanon), and the
porous fractured limestone makes an excellent aquifer which are
refilled over spring and early summer by the slow melting of snow.
The resulting abundant springs and rivers, unique to the Arab world,
gave the country its once abundant forests and legendary fertility.
However due to the steep slopes and the stony, shallow soils this
fertility has proved hard to harness for agriculture and the removal
of the forests has tended to produce only short lived farming land.
RESOURCES OF LEBANON

 Stone for building and cement can also be accounted a resource

and the frequently enormous, visually and environmentally
appalling quarries bear witness to this. I am not against all quarries
but there are ways of designing and planning them so that they
have minimal impact on the environment. This is - to say the least -
not the practice here.
THE IMPORTANCE OF GEOLOGY IN
LEBANON
 It can be said that it is the geology that has largely controlled the
history of Lebanon.
a. It has given Lebanon its high mountains and inaccessible valleys.
Positively, this makes the area an excellent refuge for minorities.
Negatively, this leads to isolationism, a clan system and makes a
centralised state difficult.
b. It has given the country good ports. This is in marked contrast to the
coast of Palestine. The Lebanon region is also protected by Cyprus
from worst winter storm waves.
THE IMPORTANCE OF GEOLOGY IN
LEBANON
c. It has given the region its fertility with the high rainfall and
excellent springs. However this is localised, demands hard work to
farm due to the steep slopes and is easily destroyed. As a result
wealth based on agriculture has not proved easy and many
Lebanese have traditionally migrated or gone into commerce. This
has been encouraged by the lack of mineral wealth
Geological hazards of Lebanon

 A main concern in Lebanon is that of earthquakes as the area is in

an active region. Beirut has been destroyed many times by
earthquakes and tsunami ('tidal waves') most notably in 551 AD.
Lesser quakes have occurred since. Unfortunately prediction of such
events is still in its infancy and we have no way of knowing when the
next major quake may occur. Even small earthquakes may trigger
landslides.
Geological hazards of Lebanon

 A subtler hazard is that of soil erosion. The steep slopes of Lebanon

and the high rainfall means that the soils, in many cases the product
of thousands of years of formation, are easily eroded. Deforestation
and the reckless building of the last ten years, has made this
problem even worse. These soils are not now being replaced.
Related to this are widespread landslides on various scales due to
the steep slopes and wet winters. The loss of trees, and extensive
urbanisation has again only made this worse.
Geological hazards of Lebanon

 A final geological concern is of the pollution and contamination of

the underground water supplies due to poor waste disposal
practices. The complex network of underground fissures that makes
up the main aquifers means that pollutants can circulate rapidly
and unpredictably. The chief dangers here come from the 'ordinary'
unspectacular pollution of aquifers by sewage and agricultural
chemicals. The widespread use of large quantities of pesticides are
a major concern. The seems little doubt that the uncontrolled
shooting of the birds has caused such an explosion in insect
numbers that people are forced to use pesticides. A far better
practice would be to leave the birds to naturally control the insects
and so keep pesticides out of our drinking water.
Economic Geology

 Lignite. In the sandstone of Lebanon ,we find strata of lignite an

imperfect coal , along with clay and shale.
 The strata of lignite vary in thickness from a fraction of an inch to a
yard.
 It has been mined to supply fuel for silk factories, and, during the
great war, for the railway, but the mining operations have never
been long continued, because the coal has been found to be
inferior quality and injurious to the boilers.
Economic geology

 Further, on account of the thinness of the beds of lignite, the mining

of it is expensive,because much rock has to be removed in order to
give sufficient height to the galleries.
 Bituminous shale. Some of the shales which are intercalated with the
sandstone contain a fair percentage of bituminous matter from
which oil can be distilled, but they are not sufficiently abundant to
make their exploitation profitable.
Economy geology

 Iron Ore. In Lebanon and anti Lebanon lumps of very good iron Ore
(limonite) are found strewn in abundance on the surface of the
lower limestone where that formation happens to crop out.
 These lumps were originally embedded in the limestone and have
been freed from it by weathering.
 Similar lumps and also much larger masses are found still embedded
in the limestone.
 This iron came to the limestone from the overlying sandstone, which
has a high percentage of iron oxide, though not enough to make it
a workable ore.
Economy geology

 Water containing organic matter seeping through the porous

sandstones reduces the ferric oxide to soluble ferrous oxide or
carbonate , and deposits its iron again in the form of hydrous ferric
oxide in pockets or cavities of the lower limestone.
Economy geology

 Limestone the abdundant limestone is valuable for building stone

and for the manufacture of lime. Some markly limestones are being
utilized for the manufacttue of cement, notably at haifa and on the
beirut tripoli road at the south border of the kurah.
 Asphalt of hasbayya. Bituminous limestone and asphalt of excellent
quality are found at hasbayya at the south western foot of hermon.
 Manganese and chromium. In the amanus mountains near
alexandretta are metamphrpic rocks of devonian aae in which
have been found ores of manganese and chromium as well as
traces of petroleum
Dead sea minearls

 Bituminous limestone is between jerusalem and the dead sea are

extensive deposits of bituminous limestone.
 Phospate rock. Phospahe rock is found north of the dead sea on
both sides of the jordan.
 Aspahat and petroleum one of the ancient names of the dead sea
was the lake of asphalt. large masses of it are occasionally
detached from the bottom of the sea and float to the surface.
 Perhaps it is on account of the occurance of asphalt, but, for
whatever reason, the region of the dead sea has been regarded as
likely to yield petroleum.
Dead Sea minerals

 It has been surveyed by one of the great petroleum companies, but

the results of the survey have not been made public.
 Sulphur and gypsum occur about the dead sea.
 The ware of the sea contains a high percentages of bromine.
 It is expected that the extraction of that and of potash and
magnesium chloride from the sea water will prove to be very
profitable.
 All the south end of the sea is low mountain of jabal usdum,
composed of alternating layers of limestone, shale and salt .the
layers of salt are of great thickness, and one of them is of great
purity.
Dead Sea minerals

 The salt may be broken into transparent,cubical crystals, which are

very beautiful,until the mositure of the atmosphere melts down their