The Zarqa River (Arabic: نهر الزرقاء, Hebrew: נחל יבוק, Yabok river) is the second largest tributary of the lower Jordan River, after the Yarmouk River. It is the third largest river in the region by annual discharge, and its watershed encompasses the most densely populated areas east of the Jordan River. It rises in springs near Amman, and flows through a deep and broad valley (which is identified with the biblical Jabbok River) into the Jordan, at an elevation 1,090 meters (3,580 ft) lower. The river is heavily polluted and its restoration is one of the top priorities for the Jordanian Ministry of the Environment.
Geologically, the Zarqa river is about 30 million years old. At the river's origin is 'Ain Ghazal, a major archaeological site that dates back to the Neolithic period. Archeological finds along the course of the river indicate the area was rich in flora and fauna in the past. The Zarqa river is well known for its amber deposits that date back to the Hauterivian of the lower Cretaceous (135 m.y.). A remarkable flora and fauna was reported from this amber reflecting a tropical paleoenvironmental prevailing conditions during the time of resin deposition (Kaddumi, 2005; 2007).
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Famous quotes containing the word river:
“Every incident connected with the breaking up of the rivers and ponds and the settling of the weather is particularly interesting to us who live in a climate of so great extremes. When the warmer days come, they who dwell near the river hear the ice crack at night with a startling whoop as loud as artillery, as if its icy fetters were rent from end to end, and within a few days see it rapidly going out. So the alligator comes out of the mud with quakings of the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)