Characteristics of the topography of Jordan, from desert areas in the east to mountainous heights in the west

ArabiaWeather.com - Rami Muhammad - Most of Jordan's surface consists, in general, of a desert plateau in the east, and high lands in the west. The Great Rift Valley separates the eastern and western banks of the Jordan River. The surface of Jordan consists of three regions: , of the Jordan Valley (Jordan Valley Canyon), mountain heights, and the desert plateau of the Badia.

Jordan Valley region:

This depression extends in Jordan for a distance of 370 km, from the mouth of the Yarmouk River to the Gulf of Aqaba. The Jordan River flows in part of this depression, to flow into the Dead Sea. The depth of the depression varies, on both sides of the Jordan River, between five kilometers, north of Aqaba, and 35 kilometers, at the latitude of Jericho. Its bottom level ranges from 800 meters below sea level, the deepest point of the Dead Sea floor, to 240 meters above sea level, in the middle of Wadi Araba. The floodplain of the Jordan River is known as Umm Az-Zour, and it separates between the level of the Az-Zour and the valley an edge of poor lands, known as the Kattar. A group of side valleys that supply the Jordan River run through the lands of the Jordan Valley.

Mountain heights:

The mountain heights form a natural separator between the Jordan Valley and the eastern desert, and it consists of a plateau interspersed with chains and mountain peaks and extends between the Yarmouk River in the north and the Jordanian-Saudi border in the south. The average height of this mountain plateau is about 1200 meters above sea level, part The greatest part of this plateau extends sharply towards the Jordan Valley in the east, and in the west the mountain range includes regional units, from north to south, which are the regions of Ajloun, Amman, Balqa, Karak, Ma’an and Tafilah, and the average height of these mountains is about 500 meters in height. Jerash region and reaches up to 1854 meters above sea level in Jabal Umm al-Dami in the south of the country.

Badia region:

It is also called the Eastern Desert, or the Desert Badia Plateau, which is the eastern extension of the mountain highlands plateau in Jordan and the northern extension of the plateau in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is the southern part of the Levant Badia plateau. The plateau, in general, has a wavy land, however, it is not devoid of the presence of some mountain ranges in the southwestern parts, especially south of Ma’an, and there are also some depressions, bottoms, and longitudinal valleys, such as the depression of Al-Jafr, Qa’a Al-Disi, and Wadi Al-Sirhan. . The Hammad Desert occupies large areas of the plateau, while the sandy lands are spread in the Hasmi plateau in the south, and the basalt harrats in the northeastern side of the desert.. This region constitutes 75 percent of the total area of Jordan.

Plains :

The most important plains are Hauran (Houran Plain), which is the northern region of Jordan, the most important of which is Ramtha, which extends geographically to southern Syria, Daraa.