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JJNH4 Pages.Pdf Editorial Board Chief Editor Prof. Dr. Dawud Al-Eisawi Department of Biology The University of Jordan Amman - Jordan Associate Editor Dr. Nashat Hamidan Conservation Monitoring Centre The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature Amman - Jordan Journal Secretary Anas Abu-Yahya Conservation Monitoring Centre The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature Amman - Jordan Designed By Omar H. Homaid Amman - Jordan Advisory Board Prof. Dr. Abdul Kader Abed Prof. Dr. Zuhair Amr Department of Geology and Department of Biology Environmental Scienes Jordan University of Science & Technology The University of Jordan Irbid - Jordan Amman - Jordan Prof. Dr. Ahmad M. Disi Dr. Abdul Kareem Al-Nasher Department of Biology Department of Biology The University of Jordan University of San’a Amman - Jordan San’a - Yemen Dr. Max Kasparek Dr. Mohammed Shoubrak Mönchhofstr. 16 Biology Department 69120 Heidelberg Taif University Germany P.O. Box 888 Taif - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Dr. Fares Khoury Department of Biology & Biotechnology Mr. Gary R. Feulner American University of Madaba P.O. Box 9342 Madaba - Jordan Dubai, U.A.E Prof. Dr. Ahmad Katbeh Bader Department of Plant Protection The University of Jordan Amman - Jordan Prof. Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh Bethlehem University Bethlehem - Palestine Dr. Monuir Abi Said Department of Biology Lebanese University Beirut - Lebanon Jordan Journal of Natural History Scope The Jordan Journal of Natural History is an open access scientific publication published by the Conservation Monitoring Center at the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature. The aim of the journal is to enrich knowledge on the regional fauna and flora of the Arabian countries of the Middle East (Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen). This includes fauna, flora (Systematics, taxonomy, Phylogenetics, Genetics, Morphology, Conservation, Ecology, Biogeography, and Palaeontology) and Geology. Monographs will be published as a supplementary issue. Type of papers The journal publishes high-quality original scientific papers, short communications, correspondence, books reviews, and case studies. Review articles are only by invitation. However, review articles of interest and high standard will be considered. Submission of Manuscripts Manuscripts should be solely submitted to the Jordan Journal of Natural History and have not been published or submitted elsewhere. All manuscripts will be reviewed by at least two referees. Based on reviewers’ recommendations, the Chief Editor will decide whether the manuscript will be accepted or rejected for publication. Electronic submission of manuscripts is strongly recommended. Submit manuscript as e-mail attachment to the Editorial Office at: [email protected]. After submission, a manuscript number will be communicated to the corresponding author. Manuscript format Title page: the title page should include concise title; a short running title, author(s) full name(s), affiliation, complete postal address, e-mail addresses, phone, and fax numbers of the author to whom all correspondence should be addressed. Abstract: an abstract not exceeding 300 words, summarized account of the subject, results and conclusions should be given. Keywords: Three to seven keywords should be included for each paper. Use of abbreviations should be avoided, only standard abbreviations, well known in the established area may be used, if appropriate. These keywords will be used for indexing. Introduction: Should include a short introduction to the background, a brief literature survey and the scope and aim of the work done. Materials and Methods: Give adequate information to allow the experiment to be reproduced. Already published methods should be mentioned with references. Significant modifications of published methods and new methods should be described in detail. Subheading can be used. Results: Results should be concise and should not include discussions. Text, tables and figures should not duplicate the same information. Newly described taxa must be distinguished from related taxa. For newly described species, the holotype should be deposited and numbered in a recognized museum. Discussion: Concise discussion without repeating the results with the significance of the present work should be provided. Citations should be given in support of the findings. Acknowledgment: A brief acknowledgment section may be given after the conclusion section just before the references. The acknowledgment of people who provided assistance in manuscript preparation, funding for research, etc. should be listed in this section. References: should be listed in alphabetical order and cited according to the Harvard citation style. Figures and Tables: It is in the author’s interest to provide the highest quality figure format possible. Figures must be saved separate to text. Please do not embed figures in the file. Files should be saved as one of the following formats: TIFF (tagged image file format), PostScript or EPS (encapsulated PostScript), and should contain all the necessary font information and the source file of the application. All figures and tables must be numbered in the order in which they appear in the paper (e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2) and their position should be indicated in the text. In multi-part figures, each part should be labelled (e.g. Figure 1(a), Figure 1(b)). Tables should be numbered using Arabic numerals. Both black and white and colored photographs are accepted. However, these photographs need to be of high quality, and minimum of 300 dpi resolution. They should not to be submitted within the text, but as a separate attachment with a file name refers to the figure location within the text (e.g figure 1). Manuscript style Times New Roman font size 12 should be used. Lines should be doubled spaced. Titles and subtitles should be bold with first word and proper nouns cap only, and paragraphs should be indented. After final acceptance of the manuscript, the author(s) should sign a copyright form for the journal. No page charges are due for publishing in the journal. The table below summarizes the manuscript style: Section Format Title Bold, first word and proper nouns cap only, Times New Roman, size 14, Centred Author/s An Author and Another Author (initials closed up for example if: J.B Hamad), centred, Regular, Times New Roman, size 14 a b Affiliation Department, University, City, Country; Department, University, City, Country, Centred, Italic, Times New Roman, size 12 Abstract Abstract: Text smaller, indented both sides, Centred, Regular, Time New Roman, size 11 Key words Keywords: word; another word; lower case except names. Position aligned with abstract, same size as a abstract Headings A. Bold initial cap only (size 12 bold) B. Bold italic initial cap only (size 12 bold, italic) C. Italic initial cap only (size 12 italic) D. Italic initial cap only (size 12 italic) Text runs on after a punctuation mark All arranged to the left, numbers to be included if supplied, no indent below. Paragraph Indented Paragraph: use this for the first paragraph in a section, or to continue after an extract. New paragraph: use this style when you need to begin a new paragraph. Manuscripts should be submitted to Jordan Journal of Natural History Conservation Monitoring Centre The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature P. O. Box 1215 Al Jubaiha, Amman 11941 Jordan Emai: [email protected] CONTENTS Abdulkader M. Abed An overview of the geology and evolution of Wadi Mujib .............................. 6 Simon Awad and Omar Attum The biodiversity value of olive groves in Palestine ......................................... 29 Abdullah Al Oshoush and Mohammed Al-Zoubi The birds diversity of the wetland habitats in the Fifa Nature Reserve, Jordan .................................................................................................................................... 37 Mohammad A. Abu Baker and Zuhair S. Amr A zoogeographical analysis of rodent fauna of Jordan .................................... 47 Mohammad Al-Saraireh and Amr Ghyada Recent observations on snakes from Jordan ..................................................... 59 Mohammed Al-Zoubi First breeding record of Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus in northern Jordan ........................................................................................................................ 67 Nashat Hamidan and Nader Al-Gheyyath Further records of the Sand Cat, Felis margarita, from the eastern desert, Jordan ........................................................................................................................ 71 6 Jordan Journal of Natural History An overview of the geology and evolution of Wadi Mujib Abdulkader M. Abed Department of Geology, the University of Jordan, Amman 11942 Jordan [email protected] ABSTRACT The rock units exposed in Wadi Mujib range in age from the Late Cambrian Umm Ishrin Formation (~ 500 million year (Ma)) ago, to Recent (Holocene). They represent a good percentage of the geological history of the country. The lower part of the geological column consists of about 600 m of sandstones (Umm Ishrin Formation and the Kurnub Group), while its upper part is dominated by about 700 m of carbonates, bedded chert and phosphorite.Volcanic rocks, 6 Ma old, are present on the southern side of the wadi. Tectonically, the Mujib is bordered from the west by the Dead Sea Transform fault (DST), a plate boundary separating the Arabian Plate, representing here by Jordan, from
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