Introduction:

The study of geology is essential to modern life, a millenia ago, we had to chance upon
discoveries of coal, oil, iron ore, gold, and other minerals. These days, through our understanding of
geology, we can reliably predict where these deposits are likely to be located. In addition, the study
of geology will likely lead one day to scientists being able to predict earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions with greater accuracy, thus saving untold lives.
The definition of geology:

Geology - the science that deal with the Earth's evolution, its structure and internal processes,
the plate movement and tectonics that create the oceanic and continental crust, its surface processes,
the relationship between air, water and fauna and the Earth's rocks, and the influence of mankind on
these systems.

Location and boundaries of Palestine:

Palestine lies to the north of the equator around 30' north

latitude and 45' east longitude. Palestine measures 424 km from
north to south and, at its widest point 114 km, from east to west.
At its narrowest point. It has a land frontier of 1,017 km and a
coastline of 273 km. Palestine is bounded to the west by hi the
Mediterranean Sea, and to the south, the Red Sea. To the south-
west is the Sinai Peninsula whilst the Syrian Desert is beyond
Israel's frontier with Jordan to the east. The territorial waters of
Palestine Supposed to be extended into the sea to a distance of
twelve nautical miles measured from the appropriate baseline, but
now it’s under the control of Israeli occupation.

Climate:

Palestine belongs to the sub-tropical zone. On the coast

(Gaza Strip) and on the highlands (West Bank), the climate is of FIG (1) Location and boundaries
of Palestine
Mediterranean type with a long hot and dry summer, and short
cool and rainy winter. Accordingly, the climate of Palestine is
classified as an eastern Mediterranean one. The temperature
increases toward the south and towards the Jordan Valley (east). The rainfall is ranging from 100 to
700 mm annually depending on the loca-tion. In the south of the West Bank, in the area of Jerusalem
Desert and Jordan Valley, prevail arid conditions.

Tectonic structure of the Palestinian:

The figure (2) shown the distribution of the main geological structures and tectonic in
Palestine and the surrounding area

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 FIG(2)Tectonic structure of the Palestinian

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Classify the land of Palestine:

 The Central Highlands (1)

These include the area from Jenin to Hebron. The

zone is mountainous rising up to 1,000 m above sea
level. It is mostly hilly and rocky, and soils are often
shallow.

 The Eastern Slopes zone (2)

This is zone transitional between the Central High-

land and the desert areas of the Jordan Valley. It
extends from the eastern parts of Jenin to the Dead
Sea in the south. The steep mountains with little
rainfall that predominate in this region make it an
almost semi-arid to desert zone. Agricultural pro-
duction is of marginal importance and is limited to
rainfed cereals such as wheat and barley. Olives are
cultivated as well. Average annual rainfall is 250-300
mm. Some parts of the zone are used for spring
grazing. The total area of this zone is ap-proximately
1,500,000 dunums, with altitudes vary-ing from 800
meters above sea level until 200 m be-low sea level.

 The Jordan Valley zone (3)

Jordan Valley is a narrow strip between the Eastern

Slopes and the River Jordan. It is 70 km long and FIG (3) Classify the land of Palestine
drops to about 400 m below sea level near the Dead Sea.
Rainfall is low (100 -200 mm), winters are mild and summers hot. Soils are sandy and calcare-ous.
Hot summers and warm winters char-acterise the climate of this region.

 The Coastal zone (Gaza Strip) (4)

This zone is located along the eastern coastal plain of the Mediterranean Sea. Sinai desert to its south
and west determines its semi-arid Medi-terranean climate of long, hot summers and mild winters
with fluctuating rainfall. Rainfall is relatively moderate in the north reaching 300 mm or more, but is
below 200 mm in the south.

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Geology OF Palestine:
Regarding the geology of Palestine, there has been a lot of research work since the beginning of this century.
Following are some explanations regarding different areas of the country.

 The Jordan Valley which comprise one of the lowest depressions of the earth has been formed as a
result of an "earth fissure", and is for the most part of it covered by diluvial marls which frequently
display a dissected topography. Tertiary limestone also occurs in some localities.

 Eastern Heights, Central Highlands and the Semi coastal region consists of Cenomanian, Eocene,
Turonian and Senonian limestones. Whilst the Cenomanian and Turonian limestones are mostly very
hard and resemble marble, the Senonian and Eocene limestones are generally of soft and chalky
nature.

 Gaza Strip region has a substratum of Tertiary limestones, calcareous sandstone marls, clay and
marine diluvium. Partially fossilised dune sand deposits cover wide stretches of land. These dune
sands are often cemented bY calcareous sediments and cemented infiltration, and form therefore
compact masses of hard rocks.

volcanic activity in Palestine:

The line tracing the Dead Sea Fault is by now without a doubt etched in our
minds! There are some important geologic features as a result of this fault, other than the
dramatic earthquakes that we have been studying. Folding occurs when the rock is
stressed enough to bend, but not break. In the Negev and Judea hills are formed as a
result of these folds. Associated with faulting is volcanism. Basalt flows from extinct
volcanoes can be seen in the Sea of Galilee and Golan Heights area, as well as in Jordan.
In the Golan Plateau, these dikes once prevented water from draining off of the
mountains and a lake developed, which has since been breached and disappeared, but is a
good example of the extended and varied effect geologic events have on the landscape.

Soil and Rocks in Palestine:

Palestine is relatively a small geographic area however the soils are remarkably diverse in
their properties. This diversity is due to the variation in climatic, origin (parent material) and
topographic features. The soils of Palestine have been the subject of many studies since the
beginning of this century, when several attempts were made to classify, identify and even map the
soils.
The first soil survey of the country was made in 1927-28 by Strahorn from the American Bureau of
Soils on behalf of the World Zionist Organisation. He surveyed almost 4.9 million dunums of the
lowlands of Palestine. Palestine is considered the diversity of the rock where there are many types of
rock, including:

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  Crystalline Rocks:

The Crystalline rocks consist mainly of granite and crystalline

schists, frequently interrupted with dikes of porphyry, diorite
and other eruptives. the Crystalline rocks are nowhere adjacent
to the Mediterranean, but that they touch the Nile at Acwan,
where the river in pouring over these rocks makes the First
Cataract, or rather did before the construction of the great dam.
Granite quarried at Acwan could be loaded on boats and
conveyed to any city on the shores of the Mediterranean, and it
is the granite of Acwan of which are composed not only many
of the monuments of Egypt, but also the pillars which adorned
many temples in Syria and Palestine.
FIG (4) Crystalline Rock

 Paleozoic Rocks :

The Paleozoic rocks of Sinai and Arabia are of Carboniferous age,

but do not include any beds of coal. Those East of Caesarea are
Devonian. Those Southeast of the Dead Sea -are the oldest of all,
being of Cambrian age.
FIG (5) Paleozoic
Rocks

 Triassic and Jurassic Rocks :

Several formations which are well developed in the British Islands,

are not found in Palestine, but a small Triassic area is found, while
Jurassic strata are found in the region of Hermon and in near
Lebanon .
FIG (6) Jurassic Rocks

 Nubian Sandstone :

Sandstone is generally supposed to be formed more rapidly than

most other rocks. It is, therefore, rather staggering to try to conceive
of even the 2,000 ft. of sandstone at the Southeast end of the Dead
Sea as having been in process of formation from the Cambrian to the
Cretaceous. The Nubian Sandstone is commonly brown or reddish, FIG (7) Nubian
but in places shows great variety of color. The temples and tombs of Sandstone
Petra were all carved in this rock. It is in places very friable, and in
others compact and hard. The sands of the Arabian deserts have been in the main derived from it,
being carried by the prevailing west winds. Where it is covered by a sheet of eruptive rock (charrah),

35
it is protected from erosion, with the result that the land to the East is not converted into a sandy
desert (Hogarth, Penetration of Arabia). It frequently includes strata of clay and shale and thin seams
of coal or lignite, and must have been deposited in seas which were at the time relatively shallow.

 Upper Cretaceous Limestone :

This is the principal rock of Palestine, Lebanon,. Many of its strata are
very fossiliferous, and no doubt exists as to its age. It furnishes the
best of building stone and is a source of lime. The soils formed from it
are fertile, and the mountain sides have been terraced by the patient
labor of centuries.
FIG (8) Upper
Cretaceous
Limestone

 Quaternary and Recent Strata :

These consist mainly of the superficial deposits of the Nile, the

Euphrates and other large streams. At various points along the coast
of Syria and Palestine are extensive sand dunes. Frequently under the
loose sand, or exposed, is found a sandstone which instead of being
entirely siliceous, like most sandstones, is partly calcareous,
containing from 15 to 25 per cent of calcium-carbonate. This is
probably an aeolian formation, i.e. consolidated under the influence FIG (9) Quaternary
and Recent Strata
of the atmosphere, and not formed under the sea, like most stratified
rocks. It is easily worked and is much used for building.

Groundwater beneath Palestine:

Palestine is classified as “subropical scrubland, semidesert, and

desert” .water scarcity is a severe problem in this hot, dry region

Northwestern Palestine has a cooler and wetter Mediterranean

climate and the south is a dry desert. Water scarcity is a severe
problem in this hot, dry region. Although the river basin itself is
one hydrological unit, the area it encompasses, Israel, the Occupied
Territories and Jordan is, economically, culturally and politically
fragmented in many different ways.Since 1948, the water of the
Jordan basin, has been a source of ongoing conflict between Israel
FIG (10) Map of River in
36 Palestine
and the Arab riparians. However, scarcity alone is not the cause of conflict over water.As you will
see, the structure of control over the water supply - in this case the mountain aquifer - plays a crucial
role in the conflict over water resources.

 Mountain Aquifer

The mountain aquifer is a renewable aquifer that is recharged by rainfall in the Mountains of the
West Bank.It is one of the two main water sources in Israel-Palestine. The other main source is the
Jordan River.The reason for the significance of the mountain aquifer is that it is the largest and
highest quality source of water for both Israelis and Palestinians. It supplies Israelis with one-third of
their water and almost all of water used by Palestinians in the West Bank comes from this
aquiferThe mountain aquifer system is made up of three different aquifers:

1. The western

2. The northeastern

3. The eastern

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FIG (11) groundwater basins in the West Bank
Underneath the ground, the water of the mountain aquifer flows east and west into reservoirs. From
these reservoirs, the water is extracted from wells

FIG (12) mountain and coastal aquifers

 Distribution & Control of Water:

As a result of the 1967 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Israel seized control of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, which had previously been under Jordanian and Egyptian authority
respectively. over bulk of the water in the mountain aquifer. Through a series of abandoned property
laws, implemented by numerous military orders, Israel seized control of an unknown number of
Palestinian wells that had been used for irrigation

“Abandoned property”, you must understand, could be land belonging to displaced refugees, fallow
land, Palestinian communal or religious land, or even the land of people who have gone on vacation

Appendix:

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Some geological photos taken from an Israeli sites and sources

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