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Digital surface geology map of Beirut and suburbs (Lebanon)
The surface geology in the city of Beirut (Lebanon) is very complex and highly variable at small distances. The last attempt to identify geological soil units and plot a map of surface geology was proposed by Dubertret in 1945. A significant portion of the western side of the city is dominated by Quaternary red sandy soils and dune sandstone. The red sand likely originated from weathered and eroded sandstone, resulting in the well-known “Terre Rouge” red sands in Beirut (Dubertret, 1945; Bedran, 1997). Recent alluvial deposits can be found in various areas of the city, covering the sandy layer.
These superficial alluvial soils are present in the Downtown district, along the Beirut River, and in the northern-eastern suburbs. On the eastern side of the city, alongside the recent alluvial deposits, occasional red sands containing pebbles and cobbles can be observed near the Beirut river banks and in a narrowing coastal plain towards the south. The eastern-southern parts of Greater Beirut are mainly dominated by Jurassic units consisting of cretaceous sandstone and clayey sandy limestone.
Simple
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-12-21
- Citation identifier
- https://datasuds-geo.ird.fr/geonetwork?uuid=780ce2dc-9762-4b53-8048-fb144384dbab
- Point of contact
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Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role UMR ISTerre - CNRS, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, IRD, Univ. Gustave Eiffel - France
Youssef, Eliane
Author UMR ISTerre - CNRS, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, IRD, Univ. Gustave Eiffel - France
Cornou, Cécile
Author Scientific Research Center in Engineering (CSRI), Faculty of Engineering, Lebanese University - Lebanon
Youssef Abdel Massih, Dalia
Author Scientific Research Center in Engineering (CSRI), Faculty of Engineering, Lebanese University - Lebanon
Al-Bittar, Tamara
Author UMR ISTerre - CNRS, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, IRD, Univ. Gustave Eiffel - France
Youssef, Eliane
Point of contact
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
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GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
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Geology
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Continents, countries, sea regions of the world.
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Lebanon
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- Keywords
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Geotechnical Engineering
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Geology
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- Use constraints
- License
- Other constraints
- License: CC-BY
- Spatial representation type
- Vector
- Language
- English
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
- Location
))
- Supplemental Information
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The map of surface geology proposed in Dubertret (1945) was extensively used in recent years for research and engineering construction purposes, without any published attempt to digitize the map. For this reason and to acquire precise boundaries for the different geological soil units covering Greater Beirut, the Dubertret geology map was digitized in the context of Eliane Youssef PhD thesis.
Note here that this exercise was limited to the area of interest encompassing Beirut city and some main suburbs (Bourj Hammoud, Jdeideh, Baouchrieh, Sin el Fil, Dekwaneh, Furn el Chebbak).
UMR ISTerre
Grant information:
IRD - ARTS program
Lebanese University
University of Grenoble Alpes
References:
Bedran, M. (1997). A Geographically Referenced Model of the Beirut Metropolitan Region (BMR) Incorporating Pertinent Geotechnical Properties. Master’s Thesis, Civil and Environmental Engineering Program, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, 1997.
Dubertret, L. (1945). Géologie du site de Beyrouth avec carte géologique au 1/20.000 et 9 planches (56 pages). Délégation Générale de France au Levant, Section géologique, Beyrouth.
- Reference system identifier
- EPSG:32636
- Distribution format
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Name Version SHP
1
- Distributor contact
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Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role DataSuds-geo
Publisher
- OnLine resource
- OnLine resource
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Protocol Linkage Name DOI
https://doi.org/10.23708/780ce2dc-9762-4b53-8048-fb144384dbab Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Conformance result
- Date (Publication)
- 2010-12-08
- Explanation
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See the referenced specification
- Statement
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To perform this task, first, the map of Dubertret (1945) was imported as an image file format to a plot digitizer software (WebPlotDigitizer) allowing to extract the lateral extents of the different soil units covering the area between [Xmin = 727000; Ymin = 3747000] to [Xmax = 738000; Ymax = 3756000] in WGS84 Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates (zone 36N).
This work resulted in sets of surface data points sampling the different geological units in the area through different colors to delimit the boundaries between the soil units. The data points were then imported to the QGIS software in order to map the interfaces and retrieve the corresponding shapefiles. Mapping the lateral interfaces between the soil units required a great manual effort to build an accurate map while applying some modifications from updated satellite images Google Earth and USGS topographic data.
Note here that the sandy cover in the western and southern sides of the city was extended throughout the whole area following the simplified surface geology proposed in Salloum et al. (2014). After this task, the map was again simplified in order to avoid any complex geometries and highly heterogeneous geologic features. The resulting shapefiles for the original and simplified geology maps of Beirut are transferred to an electronic material.
Metadata
- File identifier
- 780ce2dc-9762-4b53-8048-fb144384dbab XML
- Metadata language
- English
- Character set
- UTF8
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
- Date stamp
- 2024-01-18T09:12:42.405341Z
- Metadata standard name
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ISO 19115/19139
- Metadata standard version
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1.0
- Metadata author
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Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role UMR ISTerre - CNRS, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, IRD, Univ. Gustave Eiffel - France
Youssef, Eliane
Originator
Overviews
Spatial extent
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