Geomorphology of the eastern Badia basalt plateau, Jordan

The eastern Badia of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a landscape develop ed predominantly on late Tertiary and Quaternary basalt lava flows, which v ary in age between 8.9 million and 0.1 million years. Pyroclastic deposits are associated with remnant volcanic cones. There is limited, seasonal rain fall. Natural vegetation regenerates during cool, damp months. Slopes, whic h range from concave to convex forms and have varying relief, can be relate d to different basalts and the time since emplacement. Much of the ground s urface is mantled with boulders. In many places the continuity of boulder c over produces a desert pavement. Clasts show differing degrees of burial or exhumation, depending on the surrounding topography. Water and sediment mo vement are important to landscape development. Much sediment is deposited i n pans, which evolve at topographic lows. The pans, known locally as Qa, va ry in form depending on drainage network development. Transitional forms, k nown as Marab, develop where wadis widen out and sediments are deposited al ong ephemeral channels. Groundwater is significant, with three aquifers ben eath much of the! eastern Badia. Recharge of the upper aquifer is predomina ntly on the footslopes of the Druze Mountains, with north to south flow. Gr oundwater extraction has resulted in the expansion of agriculture, with con sequent changes in soil and water quality.