June 4, 1891] 



NATURE 



99: 



THE GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 

 OF NORTH SYRIA. 



Grundziige der Geologic und physikalischen Geographie 

 von Nord-Syricn. Von Dr. Max Blanckenhorn. Mit 

 Zwei Karten, &c. (Berlin: Friedliinder, 1891.) 



IN this excellent treatise the author presents the reader 

 with a synoptical view of the results of his observa- 

 tions over a region but little known ; referring to his 

 previous essays on the geology, palJEontology, and 

 petrology of North Syria for fuller details. The region 

 described extends from the northern slopes of the Lebanon 

 to those of the Taurus Mountains, and from the Mediter- 

 ranean coast to the banks of the Euphrates and the ruins 

 of Palmyra, embracing an area of about 45,000 square 

 miles. It also includes the whole of the Orontes Valley 

 and the Kurdish Mountains. The mountainous tracts 

 immediately to the south have already been ably described^ 

 as regards their physical structure, by Carl Diener, in an 

 essay which was favourably reviewed in Nature at the 

 time of its publication in 1886, and these observations on 

 the geology of the Lebanon and Hermon have been taken 

 up and extended by Dr. Blanckenhorn to the borders of 

 Asia Minor. Still further south, we have the geology of 

 Palestine illustrated and described by Fraas, Lartet, 

 Tristram, and the officers of the Palestine Exploration 

 Fund, extending into Edom and Moab and the Sinaitic 

 peninsula ; so that, as far as it is possible for travellers to 

 carry out such a work as that of the geological portraiture 

 of the region, we have now the whole tract from the 

 shores of the Red Sea to the Taurus Mountains very fully 

 described and illustrated. Two maps on a large scale, 

 one showing the topography, the other the geology, 

 accompany the present work. That there should be 

 uncoloured spaces at intervals in the latter was inevitable, 

 and is a proof of the caution exercised by the author in 

 its preparation. The text itself also contains numerous 

 geological sections and illustrations. 



In comparing the geological structure of the Lebanon, 

 as described by Diener,^ with that of the range between the 

 valley of the Orontes and the coast, called Djebel Ansarige 

 (Nusairier-gebirge), the author observes that the re- 

 presentatives of the Upper Jura and Cenomanian lying at 

 the base of the Lebanon formations are absent in the 

 more northerly tracts, the lowest beds of the series 

 being represented by the " Rudisten-kalk," of probably 

 Turonian age. The engraved longitudinal section which 

 the author gives to illustrate this, amongst other physical 

 features, is drawn from the coast at Latakia (Ladikije) 

 over Dj. Hassan Erai to the Orontes at Mischalum, and 

 is of much interest as illustrating the general structure of 

 this part of Northern Syria. The valley of the Orontes is 

 shown to be in the line of a great fault, or system of 

 faults, by which the Eocene limestone beds are "thrown 

 down" along the eastern side of the valley against the 

 older Cretaceous strata, which are elevated into the ranges 

 of Dj. el Ansarije and Hassan Erai, capped by the same 

 Eocene limestones which form the bed of the Orontes, but 

 at a difference of relative level of about 1600 feet. On the 

 eastern side of the valley the Eocene strata rise into high 

 ridges, partly by the aid of a N.-S. fault, which is not im- 



' "Libanon, Grundlinien der phys. G203raphie 

 syrien," 1886. 



NO. II 2 7, VOL. 44] 



Geologic V. Mif.el 



probably a continuation of the "great Jordan-Arabah 

 fault," which has produced such remarkable effects in 

 connection with the physical structure of Palestine and 

 Arabia Petraea.^ The position of this fault seems also to 

 be indicated in the section across the Orontes at Ham- 

 mam Sheikh Isa, illustrating the region of Mons Cassius. 



The author gives a graphic description of the gorge of 

 the Orontes in the neighbourhood of the hot springs 

 (Hammam) above the great bend which the river takes 

 from its northerly course towards the west in order to 

 reach the Mediterranean. At Djisr esh-Schughr the river 

 enters a caiion which has been worn down to a depth of 

 160 metres in beds of Eocene limestone and marble rich 

 in NuUipores, and amongst the missive Miocene lime- 

 stone (Grobkalk) ; while to the left rises the plateau of Dj, 

 el Koseir, breaking off in successive terraces towards the 

 Orontes Valley, and on the right the crest of Dj. el 'Ala. 

 On leaving this gorge the river enters an extensive alluvial 

 plain, making a magnificent sweep round to the westward ; 

 and in its course through a rocky and broken country 

 bathes the ruined walls of Antioch, the once famous 

 capital of Syria — a city which bears so honourable a place 

 in the early history of Christianity. 



The region of Northern Syria physically divides itself 

 into three distinct regions which are adopted for purposes 

 of description by the author. The first includes the coast 

 ranges ; the second, the depression lying to the east of 

 these, including the valleys of the Orontes and the Kara 

 sea and river ; the third, the " Hinterland," or interior 

 tracts of North Syria lying to the east ef the depression, 

 and including the Khurdish Mountains : we can only here 

 specially notice this last. This region is remarkable for 

 the great tracts of Miocene strata, reposing sometimes on 

 those of Eocene, sometimes on those of Cretaceous, ages 

 of the Palmyrene wilderness and of Anti-Lebanon, and 

 which are in turn largely overspread by great sheets of 

 plateau basalt. Of these Miocene strata the plains round 

 Aleppo are chiefly formed. Here they are nearly 

 horizontal, but towards the north they are tilted, and the 

 Eocene and Cretaceous strata again rise to the surface 

 and terminate in the escarpment of Kardalar Dagh, 

 beyond which rises the high plateau of Kawar, and still 

 further towards the north-west the lofty ridge of Giaur 

 Dagh, which reaches an elevation of 1330 metres. This 

 latter is formed of Devonian limestone, slate, and grit, 

 which appear to be the fundamental rocks of this part of 

 Syria. The plateau of Kawar, which intervenes between 

 the Giaur Dagh and the Kurdish ranges, is formed of 

 gabbro, norite, schillerfels, and serpentine, of an age 

 intervening between the Upper Chalk and the Eocene. 

 The Miocene strata which occupy so extensive a part of 

 Northern Syria were formed, according to the author, 

 under the waters of an arm of the Mediterranean, which 

 extended inwards at the base of Dj. el-Koseir beyond the 

 Kuweik and the vicinity of Aleppo, bounded by irregular 

 ranges of emergent hills of Eocene and Cretaceous strata. 

 The formation consists of basal conglomerates of flint 

 pebbles, passing into calcareous sands, clays, and finally 

 the massive limestone (Grobkalk) already referred to, and 

 has yielded forms of Operculina, Clypeaster^ &c., clearly 

 indicating its marine origin. This epoch was remarkable 



' " Mem. on the Physical Geology and Geography of Arabia Petraea, 

 Palestine, &c." (Palestine Exploration Fu id), 1886, pp. 103-12. 



