The Jordan Rift Valley

This book presents a synthesis of almost 150 years of research along the Jordan Rift Valley, where tectonics and climate variations interwove to create a succession of natural landscapes inhabited by changing communities of plants, animals and Man. The complex geological and environmental evolution since its inception in the Oligocene are expressed in a variety of sedimentary and magmatic rock units preserved as continuous sequences in the deeper basins, where they have been penetrated by drillings, analyzed palynologically and dated radiometrically. The outcropping formations encircling the basins represent alternating deposition and erosion phases, both discussed in detail. Based on a wealth of old and newly acquired data, a novel approach is presented in a model explaining the tectonic evolution of this part of the Syrian-African Rift Valley, which may change our views regarding the geotectonic pattern of the entire western Levant. Different views are also offered for comparison. Datings and paleoenvironmental reconstructions are provided for all important phases in the history of the Jordan Valley. Particular attention is focused on the last two million years, when numerous habitation sites, the oldest of which represents the initial spread of Man out of Africa, indicate the region was almost continuously inhabited.