Like a lot of Biblical stories, the demise of Sodom and Gommorah probably has some basis in fact, but their destruction can be better explained by geology than theology. They were built on the trembling fault line of the very active Jordan Rift. Like California's San Andreas Fault, the two sides of the rift are sliding in opposite directions. Unlike the San Andreas, their movement has also opened up the deepest trench on the surface of the earth, the Dead Sea. Sodom and Gommorah may well be under water.
Today there are no towns along the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea.
The Israelis would not even let them build a road until last year, so sensitive is the border. It's a tough life for a soldier on the Dead Sea. Not enough guests, they tell me, and they must clean and oil their Beretta machine guns every day, or they'll rust in the salty breeze. The mountains abruptly rising 3,000 feet above the shore are fractured and leaking, with water dripping down walls colored like a kindergarten fresco. The beach is scattered with boulders as pretty as Easter eggs.