The Baatara gorge sinkhole (Baatara gorge waterfall) is a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...

in the Chatine,

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

near Balaa. The waterfall drops into the Balaa Pothole, a cave of

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

located on the Lebanon Mountain Trail. The cave is also known as the Cave of the Three Bridges. Traveling from Laklouk to

Tannourine Tannourine ( ar, تنورين, also Tannoureen, Tannorine) is a Lebanese town located in the Batroun District, part of the Governorate of North Lebanon, 80 km from the capital Beirut. Tannourine is formed by a cluster of mountain settlements ...

one passes the village of Balaa, and the Three Bridges Chasm (in French ''Gouffre des Trois Ponts'') is a five-minute journey into the valley below where one sees three natural bridges, rising one above the other and overhanging a chasm descending into Mount Lebanon. During the spring melt, a cascade falls behind the three bridges and then down into the chasm. Discovered to the western world in 1952 by French bio-

speleologist Speleology is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, as well as their make-up, structure, physical properties, history, life forms, and the processes by which they form ( speleogenesis) and change over time (speleomorphology) ...

Henri Coiffait, the waterfall and accompanying

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

were fully mapped in the 1980s by the Spéléo club du Liban. A 1988 fluorescent dye test demonstrated that the water emerged at the spring of Dalleh in Mgharet al-Ghaouaghir (located near Balaa).

References

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External links

Balaa the 3 leveled waterfall
- Photograph

- Photograph Waterfalls of Lebanon Tourism in Lebanon Tourist attractions in Lebanon