in the
Balqa Governorate. in Southern Jordan. The country consists mainly of a
plateau between and meters high, divided into
ridges by
valleys and
gorges, and a few mountainous areas. West of the plateau, land descents form the East Bank of the
Jordan Rift Valley. The valley is part of the north–south
Great Rift Valley, and its successive depressions are
Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee; its bottom is about ),
Jordan Valley, the
Dead Sea (its bottom is about ),
Arabah, and the
Gulf of Aqaba at the
Red Sea. Jordan's western border follows the bottom of the rift. Although an earthquake-prone region, no severe shocks had been recorded for several centuries. By far the greatest part of the East Bank is
desert, displaying the land forms and other features associated with great aridity. Most of this land is part of the
Syrian Desert and northern
Arabian Desert. There are broad expanses of
sand and
dunes, particularly in the south and southeast, together with
salt flats. Occasional jumbles of sandstone hills or low mountains support only meager and stunted vegetation that thrives for a short period after the scanty winter rains. These areas support little life and are the least populated regions of Jordan. The drainage network is coarse and incised. In many areas the relief provides no eventual outlet to the sea, so that
sedimentary deposits accumulate in basins where moisture evaporates or is absorbed in the ground. Toward the depression in the western part of the East Bank, the desert rises gradually into the
Jordanian Highlands—a steppe country of high, deeply cut limestone plateaus with an average elevation of about 900 meters. Occasional summits in this region reach 1,200 meters in the northern part and exceed 1,700 meters in the southern part; the highest peak is
Jabal Ramm at 1,754 meters (though the highest peak in all of Jordan is
Jabal Umm al Dami at 1854 meters. It is located in a remote part of southern Jordan). These highlands are an area of long-settled villages. The western edge of this plateau country forms an escarpment along the eastern side of the
Jordan River-Dead Sea depression and its continuation south of the Dead Sea. Most of the
wadis that provide drainage from the plateau country into the depression carry water only during the short season of winter rains. Sharply incised with deep, canyon-like walls, whether flowing or dry the wadis can be formidable obstacles to travel. The
Jordan River is short, but from its mountain headwaters (approximately 160 kilometers north of the river's mouth at the Dead Sea) the riverbed drops from an elevation of about 3,000 meters above sea level to more than 400 meters below sea level. Before reaching Jordanian territory the river forms the
Sea of Galilee, the surface of which is 212 meters below sea level. The Jordan River's principal tributary is the
Yarmouk River. Near the junction of the two rivers, the Yarmouk forms the boundary between Israel on the northwest, Syria on the northeast, and Jordan on the south. The
Zarqa River, the second main tributary of the Jordan River, flows and empties entirely within the East Bank. A 380-kilometer-long rift valley runs from the Yarmouk River in the north to Al Aqaba in the south. The northern part, from the Yarmouk River to the Dead Sea, is commonly known as the Jordan Valley. It is divided into eastern and western parts by the Jordan River. Bordered by a steep escarpment on both the eastern and the western side, the valley reaches a maximum width of twenty-two kilometers at some points. The valley is properly known as
Al Ghawr or
Al Ghor (the depression, or valley). The Rift Valley on the southern side of the Dead Sea is known as the Southern
Ghawr and the Wadi al Jayb (popularly known as the Wadi al Arabah). The Southern Ghawr runs from Wadi al Hammah, on the south side of the Dead Sea, to Ghawr Faya, about twenty-five kilometers south of the Dead Sea. Wadi al Jayb is 180 kilometers long, from the southern shore of the Dead Sea to Al Aqaba in the south. The valley floor varies in level. In the south, it reaches its lowest level at the Dead Sea (more than 400 meters below sea level), rising in the north to just above sea level. Evaporation from the sea is extreme due to year-round high temperatures. The water contains about 250 grams of dissolved salts per liter at the surface and reaches the saturation point at 110 meters. The Dead Sea occupies the deepest depression on the land surface of the earth. The depth of the depression is accentuated by the surrounding mountains and highlands that rise to elevations of 800 to 1,200 meters above sea level. The sea's greatest depth is about 430 meters, and it thus reaches a point more than 825 meters below sea level. A drop in the level of the sea has caused the former
Lisan Peninsula to become a land bridge dividing the sea into separate northern and southern basins. == Climate ==