Years of unregulated mining activity have left hundreds of abandoned quarries across Lebanon. Satellite images show that the number of quarries and areas they cover increased, from 784 quarries covering 2897 ha in 1989, to 1278 quarries covering 5267 ha in 2005. This paper presents a comprehensive approach to assess the impact of quarrying activities on scarce Eastern Mediterranean natural resources. The assessment is based on the computation of spatial indicators such as rainfall, slope gradient, vegetation cover, soil erosion risk, and rock infiltration, using GIS to appraise critical impacts on the Lebanese ecosystem. Compared with the 1989 baseline, the area consumed by quarries in 2005 increased more than three times over former arable lands, one third for forest lands and doubled for pasture lands. Quarries additionally destroyed 676, 137, and 737 ha of productive lands, respectively. The comparison of quarry distribution with the land capability map revealed that quarries are found mainly on productive soils, consuming 1314 ha in 1989 and 2192 ha in 2005 of prime lands. A total of 87 per cent of studied quarries represent serious hazards to groundwater quality. In general, a total of 272 quarries have high impact, 657 quarries have moderate impact, and 349 quarries have low impact on natural ecosystems. Analyzed data revealed that around 62 per cent of the quarries are located in a highly unsuitable environment. This paper presents recent findings from the Eastern Mediterranean for territorial suitability assessment of quarries to be considered in the frame of natural resources and coastal ecosystems management.
Change in climate conditions has become a global issue that has given a serious concern by many researchers. However, the availability of data in this regard is considered as a major element for optimum comparative analysis. The Mediterranean region is influenced by climate change, which is reflected mainly by its impact on water sources supply and flow regime. In Lebanon, these water sources are witnessing obvious quantitative decrease, thus affected the supply side, the socalled "hydrologic drought". Therefore, many studies have been made to figure out a comprehensive understanding on water resources in Lebanon and their interrelation with climatic trends, but they often analyze one component of the water cycle. This study involves different indices of surface and subsurface water, thus, followed a comparative analysis of different hydrologic records. This was achieved by applying graphical illustrations of the numerical values adopted from available records. In this regard, different tools of analysis were used, and more certainly remotely sensed data were helpful for monitoring approaches. Therefore, results of the obtained comparative analysis revealed a clear regression in the amount of available water from different sources in Lebanon. These sources, which are under the impact of human like rivers and groundwater, showed a 23-29% decrease in the amounts of water since the last four decades. While sources, with less human interference, like snow cover and precipitation have been decreased by 12-16%. However, in both cases, the status is quite alarming and needs immediate water management plans to conserve water resources in Lebanon.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.