1933 Dubertret Geologic Map of the Levant, Mandatory Syria and Lebanon

Seminal Geological Map of Syria and Lebanon

This is a 1933 large-format geologic map of the Levant, prepared by Louis Dubertret and colleagues. This map was the first comprehensive, systematic geological synthesis of the northern Levant. Drawing on a wide range of sources, from Ottoman maps to French Army surveys and Dubertret's own pioneering work in rural areas of Syria and Lebanon, it was a seminal map in the geological mapping of the region, including forming a basis for the later exploitation of oil resources.

A Closer Look

The map covers from southern Anatolia to Gaza and eastwards as far as Baghdad. It employs color shading and notation to indicate a wide range of rock types and geologic eras. Additionally, contour lines, territorial boundaries, geologic boundaries, fault lines, waterways, terrain, and other features are labeled throughout.

The Map's Significance

This map was the first comprehensive, systematic geological synthesis of the northern Levant. Prior to its publication, regional geological knowledge consisted largely of fragmented, localized observations by 19th-century travelers. After conducting several years of surveys, particularly in previously unsampled rural areas of Syria and Lebanon, Dubertret and his colleagues established a unified stratigraphic and structural framework and illuminated the region's tectonic architecture, providing an enduring baseline for Middle Eastern geosciences. Beyond academic geology, the map played a foundational role in commercial petroleum exploration, which had been a major goal of the French High Commission (Mandate administration) since the late 1920s. By detailing surface anticlines, fault boundaries, and sedimentary basin thicknesses, Dubertret's mapping provided the primary blueprint for international exploration consortia, notably subsidiaries of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). These efforts directly guided the mid-century exploration campaigns that led to Syria's major hydrocarbon discoveries, most notably the Karachok (1956) and Suwaydiyah (1959) oil fields, effectively launching the country's modern petroleum production industry.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by Louis Dubertret in collaboration with French geologist Henri Vautret and British geologist George Stanfield Blake (who was, helpfully, fluent in French), drawing on a wide range of sources, from Ottoman maps to surveys by the French Army's Service géographique. It was issued in 1933, in conjunction with an article titled 'Études sur les états du Levant sous mandat français la carte géologique au millionième de la Syrie et du Liban' that appeared in the Revue de géographie physique et de géologie dynamique. The map was reissued in multiple editions into the 1960s, but this is the first edition. Either under the title of the map or the article, this first edition is cataloged in the holdings of roughly a dozen institutions and has no known market history.

Cartographers

Louis Dubertret (1904 - July 22, 1979) was a Swiss-born French geologist who made important contributions to research on the geology of the Levant, especially Syria and Lebanon. Dubertret was born in Baden, Switzerland, to French parents and spent much of his youth hiking in the Alps, which inspired his later interest in geology. After the First World War, his family returned to France, and Dubertret completed his secondary education in France before attending the École des Mines de Paris to study civil engineering and simultaneously taking natural science courses at the Sorbonne, receiving degrees from both institutions in 1926 (in 1934, he received an engineering doctorate from the Sorbonne, and later a Doctor of Natural Science from the same institution in 1952). In 1927, Dubertret applied to serve in the military outside France and was assigned to the French Army's geographic service in Lebanon, then a French mandate. He was demobilized the following year but had become fascinated with the country and remained after his military service, working in several capacities for the French mandatory government (High-Commissariat of Beyrouth). Over the next several years, Dubertret undertook research in many remote parts of the country that had never before been visited by Western scholars. He and his collaborators produced some of the earliest, detailed maps of Lebanon, Syria, and much of the Levant. Dubertret lived in Beirut for 30 years, from 1926 to 1956, where he taught at the Engineering School and the National Agriculture School, as well as at the University of Damascus. He was also the editor and publisher of the Notes et Mémoires of the Haut Commissariat and was consulted on many regional projects related to water supply, dams, bridges, and other infrastructure. In 1956, 1956, Dubertret returned to Paris to work at the National Center for Scientific Research, where he rose to the post of scientific director in 1959, though he continued to travel to Syria and Lebanon each year. He was deeply involved with the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and served as its secretary-general for more than 25 years. Dubertret died of a heart attack in Moscow while he was traveling the U.S.S.R. in tandem with an IAH symposium. In 1935, he married fellow geologist Rita Heybroek, with whom he had seven children.   Further Details...

Service Géographique de l'Armée (1887 - Present) was created from the French Dépot de la Guerre in 1887 and was charged with undertaking all the geodesic, topographic, and cartographic needs of the French army during times of peace and war. The Service was divided into five sections: Geodesy, the Levés de précision, topography, cartography, and accounting. The accounting section dealt with the logistical side of running the Service géographique, including the distribution and shipping of its products.   Further Details...

Source

Dubertret, L., 'Etudes sur les états du Levant sous mandat français la carte géologique au millionième de la Syrie et du Liban,' Revue de géographie physique et de géologie dynamique 1933.    

Condition

Very good. Even toning. Dissected and laid on linen for folding. Original linen stable.

References

OCLC 637955514, 38876742, 601734056.