Topic > An overview of the geological features of Lebanon

IndexTopic AnalysisConclusionBibliographyLebanon lies at the intersection of the African, Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Due to the intersection of the three plates that occurs here, the region has a complex history and interesting geography. Lebanon has three major mountain ranges: Mount Lebanon, the Bekaa and the Anti-Lebanon range. Lebanon also has a western dip and the lower regions of the Palmyrides and Syrian Arc. All these features of the region have important geological significance. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Topic Analysis Mount Lebanon is the first of several NNE-SSW aligned ranges (Walley, 1998). Rocks from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods form the largest mountain range in Lebanon. Being both the largest and closest to the coast, Mount Lebanon is an important geological feature. The range has been separated into northern and southern areas, both useful for studying the geological history of Lebanon considering that the area is difficult to study and most of what is known about its history comes from tectonic plate models (Walley, 1998) . The Mount Lebanon area mostly exceeds one thousand meters of altitude despite its deep valleys. The range was clearly influenced by the east-west fault zones in the immediate vicinity of the mountain range. The southern area of ​​the range is closer to the coast and subsequently has a lower elevation. Magnetic and gravitational events in this region suggest that the crust is thinner. The size of the mountain range and proximity to the coast and populated areas leads to runoff and erosion, which is a contemporary problem caused by the geography of the area (Khawlie, 2002). Erosion also dates back historically, the margin of the Levant in the Miocene period was eroded due to the evolution of the Levant fracture system combined with the continuous collision of the Arabian and Eurasian plates (Hawie, 2013). Furthermore, the elevated La Bekaa basin is another significant mountain range in Lebanon. These, along with the Anti-Lebanon Range, are the two innermost mountain ranges, comprising Mount Hermon at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon Range. Despite differences in age and history, both follow the same general north-south direction along the east-west faults. The Bekaa is interesting because it contains more Quaternary deposits. Basically in the last six thousand years there have been two major crustal uplifts that have affected these mountain ranges (Morhange, 2006). Elevated fossil beds between Tripoli and Beirut called “Tabarjan” were first reported on the coast 40 years ago. These features are attributed to historical tectonic movements, which lasted from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd or third century AD. Although there is no current volcanic activity in the region, the geological composition of these features shows that there was a significant and notable amount of activity volcanic. over the last ten million years. Golan volcanism, in particular, appears to have died out very recently, probably within the last ten thousand years. Older volcanic artefacts can be seen existing within a significant number of Late Jurassic volcanic vents. There is a good one in Aintoura, on the Dour Choueir-Zahle road. The West Lebanon inflection connects the region to the Israel/Palestine region along with the Eastern Mediterranean region (Walley, 1998). As a feature of Mount Lebanon, the NNE-SSW monoclinal flexure zone exhibits dips between 45° and 90°. Contains both dipping faultsthe outermost inwardly dipping high-angle reverse faults, extending over 100 km. There is a notable difference on the east and west sides of the flexure: carbonates on the east side show shallow marine sediments while the west side has more chalky sediments, demonstrating a historical environmental difference (Walley, 1998). The indication is from a Mesozic basin, called the Lebanon hinge line. This hinge line runs more or less along a NNE-SSW trend from eastern Sinai, around the southern coast of Israel/Palestine. Once again we see that this Jurassic-Cretaceous development extends to the Carmel-Sinai hinge continuing westward. The parallelism between the present-day coastline, flexure, Mount Lebanon, Bekaa, and Anti-Lebanon mesostructures, and the Yammouneh fault strongly suggests common control over these features. The structure is probably the first development of the Mesozoic that led to the opening of the branch of the Levant into the Neotethyan Ocean. The structure was probably formed at the end of the Early Miocene period based on the unconformably dated surface. The Palmyride mountain ranges in Syria are connected to Lebanon in Cenozoic history. The NE-SW trending range has a maximum elevation of only 1385 meters and is flanked by Rutbah and Aleppo to the south and north, respectively (Wally, 4). The Palmyrides appear to correspond to the Mount Hermon massif of Anti-Lebanon, but the exact relationship between the Palmyrides and the geology of Lebanon is unclear. The Palmyris fold belt can be considered as its northern and southern zones. The southern area is the main section, which has smaller, more asymmetrical folds. The northern zone has larger folds that date back to the Paleozoic and Precambrian. The Mount Lebanon massif flows into the northern area through Aleppo. Compared to the southern section of Mount Lebanon, both are topographically lower than their northern counterparts. A demonstrated elevation bias occurs in the northern part of the region. Changes in sedimentary facies suggest that this increased elevation around Mount Lebanon and the northern region existed from the Late Burdigalian period to the present day (Hawie, 2013). Rapid accumulation in the Mediterranean during the Early Pliocene led to the deposition of deposits that added to existing ones. structures. Likewise, the absence of such deposits or a hinge line in the southern area of ​​the Lebanon region links to connections in the southern geography, providing a historical trend of development between northern and southern structures. The Syrian Arc is a fold of belts between Egypt and Sinai through the Palmyra folds of Syria (Wally, 5). The concept originally referred to the continuous arch facing northwest, but now refers to the belt of folds which as a whole faces southeast. It was thought to be a product of the Dead Sea Fault, but based on the age and width of the Syrian Arc, this is now widely disbelieved. There are three distinct segments within the Syrian Arc fold belt: the western, central, and eastern. The western segment aligns NE-SW in the Sinai, the central segment aligns NNE-SSW to nearly NS (a notable shift in curvature) in Israel/Palestine and Lebanon, and the eastern segment trends NE-SW in the Palmyrides. Chronologically, the main part of the early Syrian Arc appears to have formed at the beginning of the Senonian period. There is a widespread break in deposition in Israel/Palestine, separating the Judean and Mount Scopus groups, dating to the Coniacian period, making an early Senonian age seem reasonable. In Syria the timing of the0040-1951(98)00177-2