The geology of Jordan includes thick sedimentary sequences of sandstone, marl and evaporites atop ancient Precambrian crystalline igneous and metamorphic basement rock.
At the beginning of the Cenozoic, through the Paleocene and Eocene, similar deposition to the Cretaceous took place, including bituminous limestone and marl. Rifting began in the Oligocene, forming the Jordan Rift Valley. The resulting depression was probably occupied by a sequence of lakes or shallow marine environments.
From the Miocene through the Pliocene, a marine environment that may have been a branch of the Mediterranean reached the Red Sea through the Rift Valley, reaching basalt flows in Djebel ed Drouz. Up to four kilometers of evaporites formed into the early Pleistocene.