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Geodiversity |
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Geology
The Barouk Mountain comprises rocks from the third geological era
(Pliocene) which has undergone major tectonic movement that divided
Mount Lebanon into 2 parallel parts; the eastern range is called the
Anti-Lebanon, and the western range is called Mount Lebanon. The two
mountain ranges are separated by the Beqaa Valley, which is composed of
recent infill sediments. The main rocks are limestone. The whole of the
Barouk Mountain is cavernous limestone, with many surface features such
as dolines indicating the underlying cavernous
form of the mountain range. One particularly noteworthy cave, estimated
to be 700 meters long, is located near Niha village. Villagers report an
abundance of stalactites and stalagmites and that there is an
underground body of water. |
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Geomorphology
Further south from Dahr El Baidar is the highest peak on the range at
1980 meters. The trend from north to south is for the eastern slopes to
change from very steep to less steep and for the western slopes to
become increasingly steep. The top of the Barouk range becomes
increasingly narrow towards the south. |
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Hydrology
Precipitation in the watershed is the source of both surface streamflow
and groundwater. The major portion of this occurs as rain. Snowfall
often occurs at the upper elevations but snow seldom persists more than
a few days and disappears before the end of the rainy season.
Normally snow has little overall direct effect on stream-flow within the
watershed. However, on rare occasions warm rains falling on the
snow-pack may result in rapid melting and release of large quantities of
water at a time when the soils are already fully saturated. These
conditions result in rapid runoff and floods.
A large proportion of the exposed surface rock in the Barouk region is
cavernous, fissured and broken limestone, and its porous condition makes
it very permeable. This results in much of the precipitation
infiltrating with minimum surface runoff despite the often-shallow soils
and sparse vegetative cover. Water percolates downward through the
various formations and feeds the many large springs found on lower
slopes in the area. Such springs help maintain stream-flow during the
April to November dry season.
Surface water flows originating on the range are mostly seasonal but
some are perennial.
Underground water generates outflow rivers such as:
- Al Awali River, more commonly known as Al-Barouk river
- Damour River, known as Al-Safa river
The summit of the range is considered as a divide between two
hydrological systems because of the difference between the two slopes of
the mountain. The eastern slope is much steeper and favors surface
stream flows, whereas the western slope is less steep and favors ground
water aquifers.
The rivers that flow in the valleys are the major source of agriculture
irrigation and supply a dozen Shouf villages with domestic water and
some of the western Bekaa villages. It is also the main source of water
for the Aammiq Swamp in the Bekaa.
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Pedology
Physical characteristics of the soils are:
1- Homogenous, belonging to the red brown Mediterranean soils formed on
hard marl limestone.
2-derived from Jurassic, Balthonian, Callovian to Oxfordien -
Portlandian marl limestone
3-Stone contents ranges from 80 - 90 %
From an erosion point of view these soils are in a state of equilibrium
due to:
1-High permeability
2-Mask of calcareous fragments
3-Good vegetative cover
4-Good drainage |
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Climatology
The annual rainfall average is 1200 mm, and the mean annual temperature
is 11.3° C. The mean daily maximum temperature is 23.4° C in August
whereas the mean minimum temperature in January is -0.6° C. The absolute
temperature ranges from -10.8° C in January to 32.3° C in August. The mean
relative humidity lies around 65% but the eastern slopes are slightly
dryer. There are about 50 to 55 days of snow fall per year (Service Meteo/ Ministry of Public Work and Transport). |
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