Naslov
International Speleological Expedition 2014 in Lebanon (ISEL 2014)

Autori
Garašić, Mladen ; Garašić, Davor ; Krpina, Ivan ; Nader, Fadi ; Tawk, Johnny ;

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, kratko priopćenje, ostalo

Izvornik
4th Middle East Speleology Symposium - Abstracts / Tawk, Johnny ; - Bejrut : Speleo Club du Liban, 2018, 7-12

Skup
4th Middle East Speleological Symposium

Mjesto i datum
Antalya, Turska, 03.10.2018. - 06.10.2018

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Plenarno

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Speleology, Caves, Expedition, Lebanon, Jaj Plateau

Sažetak
In August and September 2014 an International Speleological Expedition „ISEL 2014“ was held in Lebanon. The expedition was organized by the UIS and Speleo Club du Liban (SCL). 20 cavers from Lebanon, 2 from Turkey, 1 from Iran and 3 from Croatia participated the expedition. This was the 3rd UIS expedition of the kind hel after the ones in Tanzania (2004/2005) and Iran (2008). As always, Croatian cavers participated and helped the UIS project. The leader of the expedition was Fadi Nader. The goal of this expedition was finding and exploring new caves on Jaj Plateou in central Lebanon. The altitude of Jaj Plateau varies between 1550 and 1985 meters above sea level. It's a very difficult terrain to walk on and easy to get lost in. In the period between 1990 and 1992 nine vertical caves were partialy explored. After publising the results of this expedition the valorisation and potential suggestion for UNESCO protection will follow.Jaj Plateau is a square shaped tectonic plate with the dimensions of 5x15 kilometers. It's surrounded with faultlines with subvertical and vertical leaps between 300 and 800 meters. This expedition was special in the terms of exploration organisation. The terrain wes so difficult so there was no adequate place for the base camp on Jaj Plateau. The reason for this was mainly because there was not a single road or path that could be used to transport water and other necessities for the camp. Therefore, the base camp was located west of the Jaj Plateau on the altitude of 998 meters. For the purposes of the base camp, a building with hot showers, kitchen and lecture room was used. The usual day of Jaj Plateau exploration started at 5AM and finished at 3PM.After 3PM it was impossible to do any exploration on Jaj Plateau due to the thick clouds that lowered the visibility to around 10 meters. ISEL 2014 had found, explored and mapped over 70 new caves in the Jaj Plateau. A significant amount of basalt rock was found in the areas of great faults. Even in the altitudes high as 1600 meters.It gives a whole new dimension of how the Jaj Plateau was created. 4 independant basalt sources were discovered dating from upper Jurrasic til recent geological periods. This find indicates that Jaj Plateau used to be a volcano so the caves longer/deeper than 500 – 600 meters are not likely to be expected. It is our goal to protest the area of Jaj Plateau and recommend it to be protected by the UNESCO.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Geologija, Građevinarstvo, Rudarstvo, nafta i geološko inženjerstvo

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