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. Producing an average of 3,435 gallons per second, it is the main source of the Orontes River. Because of its heavy flow, it is characterized as a first-magnitude spring. It sits beneath the caves at Deir Mar Maroun, an ancient monastery carved into the cliffs that surround the spring. Melting snow from these nearby heights supplements the spring's large groundwater reservoir, in the Jurassic and Cretaceous strata. It is estimated that the spring's phreatic zone reservoir contains as much as 10 billion cubic metres of storage. As a result, its flow has been less affected by overpumping and drought than other springs in the Orontes river basin.
References
- Paul Doyle (1 March 2012). Lebanon. Bradt Travel Guides. pp. 215–. ISBN 978-1-84162-370-2. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- 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.
- Michel M. Alouf; Tedd St Rain (1999). History of Baalbek. Book Tree. pp. 49–. ISBN 978-1-58509-063-1. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
- Stevanović, Zoran; Krešić, Neven; Kukurić, Neno (2016-04-14). Karst without Boundaries. CRC Press. pp. 54–57. ISBN 9781498787734.
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