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A Date with Jordan |
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Wadi Hasa sports magnificent hanging gardens, narrow gorges and
hot springs. Its upper reaches are carved into white limestone,
creating a playground of giant boulders. A dramatic change of
scenery is displayed along its lower course, where the wadi cuts
a spectacular canyon in red sandstone. The drainage basin of
Wadi Hasa extends over 3,200 sq. km, far bigger than most of the
wadis in Moab or Edom and second only wadi Mujip. Its discharge
is about 20 million cubic m per year and the temperature of its
hottest spring is about 54 C. A rare tropical tree (Dalbergia
sissoo), not known elsewhere in Jordan grows in its bed. |
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Wadi Hasa is
identified with the biblical Zered River, the traditional
border between Moab and Edom. It is depicted on the mosaic map of Madaba.
At the upper
reaches of Wadi Hasa, atop a prominent hill, is the ruined Nabataean temple
of Khirbet Tannur. Just beneath it a new dam is being built. Though the dam
is constructed above the point where the wadi’s flow commences, and is meant
to catch only floods, it is hard to foresee its influence on the lower
reaches of the wadi. |
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