of a carbonate massif fractured along two 
directions at 80 , with intense lapies formation. 
In the high valley in the form of a catchment basin 
of the Barada river, and further south in the 
neighborhood of the small lake of kafer Qouq, 
the lapies formations are covered by series of 
a lighter color 
The lapies formations can be attributed to the 
Jurassic mainly the limestone/dolomitic Dogger, 
which outcrops widely in the Mount Hermon 
dominating the Aarneh cirque, an anticlinal valley 
excavated in Liassic shale. 
The depressions occupied by the light formations 
correspond to synclines filled by Uppermost 
Jurassic and Lower cretaceous shales and 
sandstones. 
In some places are more or less well-drained 
depressions. They appear filled by dark-colored 
alluvial deposits punctuated by the red spots of 
crops. 
To the NW of the scene, beyond the N50 feature 
which determines a ridge crossed by Damascus / 
Beirut road at a pass, a few hogbacks show 
a westward dip. in opposite side, the eastern 
ridgeline reveals eastward dips. The unit thus 
appears as a vast anticline, cut by faults. It looks 
like an axial horst plunging towards the NE, 
affected by gentle synclinal undulations and 
intersected by roughly N80 fractures. The torsion 
of the fractures which, from east to west, passes 
from N80 N60 , as the arrangement of the axis 
of Mount Hermon intersected by the eastern fault 
system, suggest that latter active at least partly 
in sinistral shear. 
THE PALMYRA RANGE 
The area on the SPOT image associated with the 
Plamyra Range forms alight-colored salient whose 
southward-pointed apex is partly masked by dark 
volcanic outpourings and by a wide alluvial fan 
issued from Mount Hermon. Towards the north, 
it is crossed and partly drained by the Barada river 
It appears to be formed of Cretaceous and Tertiary 
sedimentary largely considting of alternating marl and 
limestone, imparting its lighter color than the jurassic 
rocks of. Anti-Lebanon, as well as its morphology. 
The clearly-visible layers sometimes forming hogbacks 
are numerous enough to allow a structural analysis, 
thanks to the stereoscopic view. They are deformed 
into a broad axial syncline (Sahl es Sahra, Mnineh) 
laying between two relatively narrow anticlinal 
chains (Yaafur - Dimas to the west, Jabal Kashin - 
Jabal ash-Sharqi to the east). The syncline appears 
occupied by unconformable formations, deeply 
cutting older rocks in places, as on either side of 
the upstream cross valley of the Barada river, but 
clearly distorted by tectonics. They are of Continent] 
Neogene age (undifferentiated Mio-pliocene system) 
Anticlinal chains exhibit an average N30 trend on the 
western margin, and N50 on the eastern margin. In the 
western chain, the anticlines appear en echelon, slight- 
ly oblique to the border feature of the Anti-Lebanon 
confirming a sinistral displacement along the fault. The 
eastern range forms a festoon with a convexity turned 
towards the SE. This convexity, combined with the 
asymmetry of dips,higher towards the SE than the 
NW suggests a tendency to thrust towards the SE. 
In greater detail, this range appears to be composed of 
relayed brachyanticlines, more or less seperated by 
nearly east/west faults. Here this arrangement again 
suggests the existence of a sinistral strike-slip fault 
in the basement. 
The north of the Barada river and of Wadi Halbun, 
the axial syncline is deformed by two plunging anti- 
clinal axis, oriented nearly east/west, one orginating 
in the eastern range, and the second in the western 
range,one relating the other. 
The ridge alignment seperating the Anti-Lebanon from 
the Palmyra range is complex. It appears to be highly 
broken up by faults oblique to the main fault. 
Interpretation is difficult in the absence of a strati- 
graphic attribution for the diferent compartments. 
Certain facts, such as the distribution of the formations 
in Jabal Berber, Jabal Mazara, and north of Yaafur, 
suggest the possibility of an overthrust of the Anti- 
Lebanon on the Palmyra range. 
Thus, in the region shown in the SPOT image, the 
structure of the Palmyra range appears like a relatively 
plastic sedimentary series held in a sinistral strike silp 
corridor between two more rigid blocks. (Figures). 
THE DAMASCUS DEPRESSION 
Only its northwest margin is visible on the image. At 
the foot of the limiting escarpment of the Palmyra 
range, it shows the heads of two alluvial fans, one 
constructed by the Barada river, and the second by 
Wadi Halbun river. 
The Barada fan is stopped at the south by tabular 
reliefs very gently dipping northheat, they are broken 
into outliers, dark grey to black in color at the top, 
light grey to white ate base. These are northernmost 
reliefs of the Jabal ed Druz, in the form of a basaltic 
table dissected by the erosion that causes the out- 
cropping of its substratum consisting of plio- 
pleistocene lacustrine white marl (Figure 6). 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B7. Vienna 1996