Geography of Jordan

Jordan is situated geographically in

Southwest Asia, south of Syria, west of
Iraq, northwest of Saudi Arabia and east
of Israel and the West Bank; politically,
the area has also been referred to in the
West as the Middle or Near East. The
territory of Jordan now covers about
91,880 square kilometres
(35,480 sq mi).

Between 1950 and the Six-Day War in

1967, although not widely recognized,
Jordan claimed and administered an
additional 5,880 square kilometres
(2,270 sq mi) encompassing the West
Bank; in 1988 and with continuing
Israeli occupation, King Hussein
relinquished Jordan's claim to the West
Bank in favor of the Palestinians.

Jordan is landlocked except at its

southern extremity, where nearly 26
kilometres (16 mi) of shoreline along
the Gulf of Aqaba provide access to the
Red Sea.
A map of Jordan.
Geographic coordinates: 31°00′N
36°00′E

Contents
Boundaries
Topography
Climate
Area and boundaries
Resources and land use
Environmental concerns
See also
References

Boundaries
Except for small sections of the borders with Israel and
Syria, Jordan's international boundaries do not follow well-
defined natural features of the terrain. The country's
boundaries were established by various international
agreements and with the exception of the border with Israel,
none was in dispute in early 1989.

Jordan's boundaries with Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia do

not have the special significance that the border with Israel
does; these borders have not always hampered tribal
nomads in their movements, yet for a few groups borders
did separate them from traditional grazing areas and
delimited by a series of agreements between the United
Kingdom and the government of what eventually became
Saudi Arabia) was first formally defined in the Hadda
Agreement of 1925.

Borders of Jordan.

In 1965 Jordan and Saudi Arabia concluded an agreement that realigned and
delimited the boundary. Jordan gained 19 kilometers of land on the Gulf of
Aqaba and 6,000 square kilometers of territory in the interior, and 7,000
square kilometers of Jordanian-administered, landlocked territory was ceded
to Jordan.[1] The new boundary enabled Jordan to expand its port facilities
and established a zone in which the two parties agreed to share petroleum
revenues equally if oil were discovered. The agreement also protected the
pasturage and watering rights of nomadic tribes inside the exchanged
territories.

Map of 1965 land swap between Jordan and

Topography
Saudi Arabia

The country consists mainly of a plateau between 700 metres (2,300 ft) and 1,200
metres (3,900 ft) 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 −258
metres (−846 ft)), Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea (its bottom is about −730 metres
(−2,400 ft)), 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, A satellite map of the Middle East
particularly in the south and southeast, together withsalt flats. Occasional jumbles of with Jordan in the center.
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 A village near Al-Salt in the Balqa
northern part and exceed 1,700 meters in the southern part; the highest peak is Jabal Governorate.
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.
Wadi Rum in Southern Jordan.
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 asAl 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 at101 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
The major characteristic of the climate is the contrast between a relatively rainy season from November to April and very dry weather
for the rest of the year. With hot, dry, uniform summers and cool, variable winters during which practically all of the precipitation
occurs, the country has aMediterranean-style climate.
In general, the farther inland from theMediterranean Sea a given part
of the country lies, the greater are the seasonal contrasts in
temperature and the less rainfall. Atmospheric pressures during the
summer months are relatively uniform, whereas the winter months
bring a succession of marked low pressure areas and accompanying
cold fronts. These cyclonic disturbances generally move eastward
from over the Mediterranean Sea several times a month and result in
sporadic precipitation.

Most of the East Bank receives less than 120 millimeters (4.7 in) of
rain a year and may be classified as a dry desert or steppe region.
Where the ground rises to form the highlands east of the Jordan
Valley, precipitation increases to around 300 millimeters (11.8 in) in
the south and 500 millimeters (19.7 in) or more in the north. The
Jordan Valley, lying in the lee of high ground on the West Bank,
forms a narrow climatic zone that annually receives up to 300
A Köppen climate classificationmap of Jordan.
millimeters (11.8 in) of rain in the northern reaches; rain dwindles to
less than 120 millimeters (4.7 in) at the head of theDead Sea.

The country's long summer reaches a peak during August. January is usually the
coolest month. The fairly wide ranges of temperature during a twenty-four-hour
period are greatest during the summer months and have a tendency to increase with
higher elevation and distance from the Mediterranean seacoast. Daytime
temperatures during the summer months frequently exceed 36 °C (96.8 °F) and
average about 32 °C (89.6 °F). In contrast, the winter months—November to April
—bring moderately cool and sometimes cold weather, averaging about 13 °C
(55.4 °F). Except in the rift depression, frost is fairly common during the winter, it
The countryside near Salt.
may take the form of snow at the higher elevations of the north western highlands.
Usually it snows a couple of times a year in westernAmman.

For a month or so before and after the summer dry season, hot, dry air from the
desert, drawn by low pressure, produces strong winds from the south or southeast
that sometimes reach gale force. Known in the Middle East by various names,
including the khamsin, this dry, sirocco-style wind is usually accompanied by great
dust clouds. Its onset is heralded by a hazy sky, a falling barometer, and a drop in
relative humidity to about 10 percent. Within a few hours there may be a 10 °F
(5.6 °C) to 15 °F (8.3 °C) rise in temperature. These windstorms ordinarily last a day
or so, cause much discomfort, and destroycrops by desiccating them.
Snow in Amman.
The shamal, another wind of some significance, comes from the north or northwest,
generally at intervals between June and September. Remarkably steady during
daytime hours but becoming a breeze at night, the shamal may blow for as long as nine days out of ten and then repeat the process. It
originates as a dry continental mass of polar air that is warmed as it passes over the Eurasian landmass. The dryness allows intense
heating of the Earth's surface by the sun, resulting in high daytime temperatures that moderate after sunset.

Area and boundaries

Area:
total: 89,342 km²
land: 88,802 km²
water: 540 km²
Land boundaries:
total: 1,744 km
border countries: Iraq 179 km, Israel 307 km, Saudi Arabia 731 km, Syria 379 km, West Bank 148 km

Coastline: 26 km
note: Jordan also borders the Dead Sea, for 50 kilometres (31 mi)

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 3 nmi (5.556 km; 3.452 mi)

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Dead Sea −408 m
highest point: Jabal Umm ad Dami 1,854 m

Resources and land use

Natural resources: phosphates, potash, oil shale

Land use:
arable land: 2.41%
permanent crops: 0.97%
other: 96.62% (2012)

Irrigated land: 788.6 km² (2004)

Total renewable water resources: 0.94 km3 (2011)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 0.94 km3/yr (31%/4%/65%)
per capita: 166 m3/yr (2005)

Environmental concerns
Droughts; occasional minor earthquakes in areas close to the Jordan Rift alley
V Phosphate Mines in Jordan,
east of the southerly Dead
Environment – current issues: limited natural fresh water resources and water stress; Sea
deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification

Environment – international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes,
Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified:none of the selected agreements

See also
Winston's Hiccup
Borders of Jordan

References
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studieswebsite
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the CIA World Factbook website
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html.
 1. "International Boundary Study, No. 60 – December 30, 1965, Jordan – Saudi Arabia Boundary"(https://fall.law.fsu.ed
u/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS060.pdf)(PDF). US Department of State. Retrieved 30 January 2019.

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