Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum is a desert valley in southern Jordan, near the Saudi Arabian border and about 60 kilometers east of Aqaba, covering some 720 square kilometers with elevations ranging from 45 to 1,750 meters. Its dramatic, near-vertical mountains are carved from the iron-rich, erosion-resistant Umm Ishrin Sandstone, which sits above the Disi and Umm Sahn sandstone formations and the Salib Arkosic Formation, all resting on a base of eroded granite of the Aqaba Complex; these sandstones belong to the broader Nubian Sandstone sequence and range in age from the Lower Paleozoic through the Upper Cretaceous. The valley's form comes from differential erosion: the tough Umm Ishrin Sandstone was left standing as tall peaks while softer surrounding rock wore away, leaving flat, sand-filled valley floors between the mountain walls, some of which rise about 300 meters above the valley floor. Wind has further shaped the sandstone into features such as tafoni hollows, natural bridges, and dune types including barchans and climbing and echo dunes. Jabal Umm ad Dami, at roughly 1,840 to 1,854 meters, is the highest point in Jordan, and nearby Jabal Ram, at about 1,734 meters, is the second highest. This entity documents Wadi Rum specifically as a geological formation shaped by differential wind and water erosion of ancient sandstone.