ream part 
sent 
bv several tectonic phases, has mainly pre- 
served the mark of a stress trending about 
N20 , that occured during Neogene times and 
could be still acting today, as shown by the 
volcanic extrusions of recent age (figure 8) 
  
ez 
  
   
   
ut Fault 
A Strike slip ; 
»" Overthrust 
Anticlinal axis 
i i 
ems 
Distension LY Recent basalt 
  
  
  
  
Figure 8, Damascus Tectonic Interpretation. 
OTHER OBSERVATION 
In addition to the geoglogical observation that 
it allows, the SPOT image offers a great deal of 
other information. 
VEGETATION AND CROPS 
In the mountainous regions, the spontaneous 
vegetatation appears to be very diffuse, and the 
crops are located in the valley floors ( Barada 
river) or in more or less closed alluvial depress- 
ions ( west of Jabal Mazar, Kafer Qouq, Aarneh). 
In the Damascus region, the cheif crops are those 
of the Ghuta of Damascus, irrigated by the water 
ofthe Barada river flowing from the Anti-Lebanon 
and those of the Awaj valley, irrigated by the waters 
flowing from Mount Hermon. (Figure 9). 
HUMAN ACTIVITY 
The dominating element is the Damascus built-up 
area. The city was established 2 km from the outlet 
of Barada river crossing Jabal Qassiun, undoubted- 
ly more than four thousand years ago. 
It is cleatly visible on the SPOT image. At this 
location, sheltered both from the northern winds 
by the Palmyra range and parching south winds by 
the reliefs of Jabal ed-Druz, the water of Barada 
river, caught in a cross valley and redistributed by 
à network of irrigation channels, hasallowed the 
development of crops and gardens in a vast semi- 
circle overlooked by the citadel. Only part of it can 
  
Figure 9, LANDSAT 5 image for southwest part of 
Syria. 
be seen in the image published here, clearly 
distinguished by the extremedivision of the parcell- 
ing arrangement. 
The built-up area around the city has grown in a 
star along the main communications arteries. 
Outside the urban zone of Damascus and its satellite 
towns, villages appear; they are more or less isolated 
far from the main highways (the only clearly visible 
communications). 
The image also reveals abundant of open-pit minig in 
the hills surrounding the plain of the Sahl esSahra 
(quarries, cement ?). 
THE CONTRIBUTION OF SPOT 
On the whole, SPOT recording appear to be closer to 
conventional aerial photograph than LANDSAT on the 
same scale. THe difference reside essentially in : 
- a better definition of the image, allowing a finer 
perception of the details (drainage pattern, lapies 
texture of the Anti-Lebanon). 
- the possibility of stereoscopic vision : many ambigui- 
ties can be cleared up on this account, allowing 
relatively throuh structural analysis. 
The common advantage is the territorial extent of the 
scene, which although smaller in SPOT than in 
LANDSAT, remains out of all propotion to that of aerial 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B7. Vienna 1996