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Jordan's economic development, from its earliest
days, owes much to its geology. The Jordan River
valley and the Dead Sea rift form not only one of
the great cultural divides in the world, but is
an area of intense tectonic dynamics—considered
the pleating ground of continents. As such, according
to Ian J. Andrews of the British Geological Survey
in Edinburgh, the geology of Jordan is both its
foundation and its building stone. It controls the
country's wealth in terms of natural habitats and
landscapes, as well as the availability of water,
building material, economic minerals and trade routes.
As Jordan’s geological features became trade
routes for early man, the use of flint and copper-making
technologies widened through out the region. The
types of rock and soil influenced even the fauna
and wildlife, as certain plants can only grow in
limestone, and various bird species favor very specific
rock types.
Much of Jordan, including the mountainous region
and the interior deserts of the north, are made
of limestone—an easily eroded rock that often
forms craggy outcrops. Considered one of Jordan’s
most spectacular features, Wadi Mujib, a vast ravine
southwest of Amman, offers stunning scenery and
is, along with the Wadi Mujib Nature Reserve surrounding
the canyon, one of the top tourist destinations
in the country.
To the northwest these limestone soils, and relatively
humid climate, can be found Jordan’s best farmland;
however, as in much of the world, these fertile
soils are being swallowed up by rapid urban expansion.
Born of red, white, and soft pink sandstones, some
of Jordan’s most dramatic scenery occurs in
outcrops along the margins of the Rift, in places
such as Petra and Wadi Rum.
The rocky landscape is weathered into spherical
domes and vertical edges (what we would call Mesas
in the United States) that appear to have been melted
like candle-wax. Much of the 1962 epic movie Lawrence
of Arabia was filmed here. In the period after the
movie was released this area became a tourist haven,
and it is tourism that continues to be the mainstay
of the sandstone region.
The single most important structural feature in
Jordan, says Andrews, is the Dead Sea Rift Valley
that extends the entire length of the country and
defines its western border with Israel/Palestine.
A continuation of the Great Rift of Africa as well
as the Red Sea, the Dead Sea Rift owes its existence
to a deep, linear, strike-slip fault which marking
the boundary between the Arabian and African Plates.
It is here that the youngest rocks in Jordan are
to be found—typically soft siltstones and mudstones—remnants
of a series of lakes that inhabited the region over
the course of geologic time.
Technically the Dead Sea, like the Caspian Sea
to the west, is a lake. Descending the highway westward
from Amman one encounters a sign, while still high
in the mountains, announcing the passage of sea
level. Along these faults, and on the eastern banks
of the Dead Sea, Jordan is traveling northwards
about two feet per century. Already the lowest place
on planet earth, the Dead Sea basin continues to
drop about the width of a cigarette pack each century.
In recognition of the bitumen that was found here,
the Romans referred to the Dead Sea as Lacus Asphaltitis
(asphalt). Bitumen was an important substance used
in construction and waterproofing. It also had a
role in the preservation of the dead, serving as
an ingredient in the mummification of the Egyptian
Pharos. In biblical times the economies of the Rift
Valley were based on the substance.
Although the economy of Jordan is quickly changing,
its mineral wealth will continue to play an important
role in its balance of trade. After the United States
and Morocco, Jordan is the third largest producer
of phosphate in the world. Its deposits, located
in the Rift Valley, followed by potash, have long
been Jordan's primary natural resource and a major
source of export income. It is believed that the
country could produce phosphate at its present rate
for hundreds of years.
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Jordan 
