34°21′08″N 36°22′23″E / 34.35222°N 36.37306°E / 34.35222; 36.37306

Ain ez Zarqa (also spelled Ayn ez Zarqa or Ain-el-Zerqa) is a natural artesian karst spring located south of Hermel in the Beqaa Governorate, in central Lebanon.[1] Producing an average of 3,435 gallons per second, it is the main source of the Orontes River.[2][3] Because of its heavy flow, it is characterized as a first-magnitude spring.[4] It sits beneath the caves at Deir Mar Maroun, an ancient monastery carved into the cliffs that surround the spring.[5] Melting snow from these nearby heights supplements the spring's large groundwater reservoir, in the Jurassic and Cretaceous strata.[2] It is estimated that the spring's phreatic zone reservoir contains as much as 10 billion cubic metres of storage.[3] As a result, its flow has been less affected by overpumping and drought than other springs in the Orontes river basin.[6]

References

  1. ^ Paul Doyle (1 March 2012). Lebanon. Bradt Travel Guides. pp. 215–. ISBN 978-1-84162-370-2. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  2. ^ a b Scheffel, Richard L.; Wernet, Susan J., eds. (1980). Natural Wonders of the World. United States of America: Reader's Digest Association, Inc. p. 34. ISBN 0-89577-087-3.
  3. ^ a b Steiner, Margreet L.; Killebrew, Ann E. (2014-01-16). The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant: c. 8000-332 BCE. OUP Oxford. p. 376. ISBN 9780191662546.
  4. ^ Edgell, H. S. (1997-09-01). "Karst and hydrogeology of Lebanon". Carbonates and Evaporites. 12 (2): 220–235. doi:10.1007/BF03175419. ISSN 1878-5212. S2CID 130137144.
  5. ^ Michel M. Alouf; Tedd St Rain (1999). History of Baalbek. Book Tree. pp. 49–. ISBN 978-1-58509-063-1. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  6. ^ Stevanović, Zoran; Krešić, Neven; Kukurić, Neno (2016-04-14). Karst without Boundaries. CRC Press. pp. 54–57. ISBN 9781498787734.


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