Jezreel Valley

The Jezreel Valley is a large, fertile inland plain in the Northern District of Israel, bordered by the Lower Galilee highlands to the north, the Samaria highlands and Mount Gilboa to the south, the Mount Carmel range to the west and northwest, and the Jordan Valley to the east. About two million years ago, tectonic uplift between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan Rift Valley severed a periodic marine connection that had linked the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea basin, a change that helped push the Dead Sea toward its present highly saline state. The valley is today an exceptionally productive agricultural region growing wheat, cotton, corn and legumes, with the city of Afula near its center.