10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Dead Sea «TwistedSifter The Dead Sea , also known as the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. It’s a hypersaline lake that is truly one of Earth’s unique places. Below you will find ten interesting facts along with a gallery of picture of this fascinating place. All information below via Wikipedia , enjoy! Photograph by Dieter Manske 1. The surface and shores of the Dead Sea are 423 metres (1,388 ft) below sea level, making it Earth’s lowest elevation on land. Photograph by David Shankbone 2. The Dead Sea is 377 m (1,237 ft) deep, making it the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. A hypersaline lake is a landlocked body of water that contains significant concentrations of sodium chloride or other mineral salts, with saline levels surpassing that of ocean water. Photograph by Indyblue on Flickr 3. With 33.7% salinity, the Dead Sea is one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water.

Although Lake Assal (Djibouti), Garabogazköl and some hypersaline lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond) have reported higher salinities. Photograph by Pete 4. The Dead Sea’s unusually high salt concentration means that people can easily float in the Dead Sea due to natural buoyancy. In this respect the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah in the United States. Photograph by Wilson44691 5. The Dead Sea is roughly 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which animals cannot flourish (hence its name). The high salinity prevents macroscopic aquatic organisms such as fish and aquatic plants from living in it, though minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present. Photograph by Mr. Kris on Flickr 6. The Dead Sea is 67 kilometres (42 mi) long and 18 kilometres (11 mi) wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River. Photograph by Ian Bothwell on Flickr 7.

The Dead Sea area has become a major center for health research and treatment for several reasons. The mineral content of the water, the very low content of pollens and other allergens in the atmosphere, the reduced ultraviolet component of solar radiation, and the higher atmospheric pressure at this great depth each have specific health effects. Photograph by NASA Earth Observatory 8. Biblically, the Dead Sea was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world’s first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. Photograph by MarkGuitarPhoto on Flickr 9. An unusual feature of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt. From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles and blocks of the black substance. Asphalt coated figurines and bitumen coated Neolithic skulls from archaeological sites have been found. Egyptian mummification processes used asphalt imported from the Dead Sea region. Photograph via New 7 Wonders of Nature 10.

The world’s lowest road, Highway 90, runs along the Israeli and West Bank shores of the Dead Sea at 393 m (1,289 ft) below sea level. Lowest Land Points Below Sea Level Map | Depression Elevations By David K. Lynch, Thule Scientific Each pushpin on the map above marks the lowest point in one of Earth's ten structural depressions with the lowest land elevations. Use the controls in the upper left corner of the map to zoom in for a closer look. You can change from satellite images to maps with the controls in the upper right corner. Thanks to Google for letting us use their services to make this fun map and to Brad Cole for creating it! Introduction: Dozens of land areas of the Earth sit below current sea level. The ten with the lowest elevations are listed below, along with a Google Map showing their locations. The lowest land area is the shoreline of the Dead Sea Depression and the largest below-sea-level depression by surface area is the Caspian Depression. A total of 33 countries have land below sea level. What Causes Most Below-Sea-Level Depressions? Most major depressions are associated with tectonic plate boundaries.

They form when converging plates deform or when spreading centers open. A few are volcanic in origin. Most of these depressions are in the northern hemisphere for a good reason: this is where most of the land is and where most of the plate boundaries occur. Many are found in the vicinity of where the African, Arabian and Eurasian plates meet. Most are found in hot desert regions of the planet where high evaporation rates prevent them from filling with water. A few are found in temperature climes. Many well-populated places in the world are below sea level. About a third of the Netherlands including Schiphol Airport is below sea level. So too are the Jordan River and parts of many coastal cities including New Orleans and Bangkok.

Other regions below sea level are the Enriquillo-Cul de Sac Depression (Hispaniola), Chott Melrhir Depression (Algeria), Sebkhet Shunayn and Sabkhat Ghuzayyil (Libya), Shatt al Gharsah (Tunisia), Lammefjord (Denmark), Sebkha Tah (Morocco), Hachiro-gata (Japan), Sariqarnish Kuli (Uzbekistan), The Fens (UK) and Lake Eyre, Australia. Of the two hundred and fifty five recognized countries or protectorates in the world, 33 have land below sea level . Most of these are only a few meters down. Some below-sea-level depressions are dry, most others have salt lakes. The lakes are undrained, which means water flows in but does not flow out. Since water cannot flow up hill, the lakes cannot empty into the sea like most do and so they accumulate salt as their waters evaporate. Where does the salt originate? Some of it comes from ancient sea floor salt deposits that have been uplifted then weather and release the salt which reaches the depressions via rivers.

Many other rocks weather to yield sodium and chlorine ions that are carried to the lake by rivers. The Sea of Galilee is below sea Level but is a freshwater lake because it drains into the Dead Sea through the Jordan River. Owing to variations in rainfall, evaporation rates, and human water use, most of the lake levels fluctuate from year to year. Some have come and gone in historic times. The present Salton Sea was produced by a canal construction accident in 1905, though the lake has come and gone naturally many times in the last thousand years. The lowest exposed land on Earth is at the Dead Sea shore, at -413 meters. The deepest lake bottom in a below-sea-level depression also belongs to the Dead Sea at -750 meters. Lake Baikal in Russia is at an elevation of 447 meters, but with a maximum depth of 1637 meters, its bottom lies at -1190 meters. The Bentley Subglacial Trench in Antarctica reaches 2555 meters below sea level. It is the lowest point on Earth that is not covered by ocean, although it is covered by ice. The trench is huge, roughly the size of Mexico.

The deepest point on the ocean floors is -10,916 meters in the Mariana Trench. Trenches are the upper most parts of subduction zones and there are dozens of trench locations that are more than 5000 meters below sea level. Strictly speaking, most of the surface of the Earth is below sea level because oceans cover 71 % of the planet. But sea level varies and during the Great Ice Age 18,000 years ago, sea level was 130 meters lower. Today, large areas are under water that during the Great Ice Age were well above sea level. It is also likely that long ago and far into the future, plate tectonics will produce higher mountains and deeper trenches and depressions than we have today. The Dead Sea is located in a deep valley at the transform boundary between the African and Arabia Plates (shown as a black line on the map above). At over 400 meters below sea level, it is the land area with the lowest elevation. The motions of the African and Arabian Plates, combined with the motion of shear-zone faulting has resulted in the formation of the deep Dead Sea Depression. Image by the United States Geological Survey.

Most land that is below sea level is located in an area with a very dry climate. The dry climate offers very little rain and very high evaporation. This excess of evaporation over precipitation prevents the depression from filling with water. The photo above shows salt deposits of the Dead Sea - a product of high evaporation rate. Image copyright by iStockPhoto and Steven Allan. New Orleans is a city below sea level. It is protected from flooding by seawalls and an extensive groundwater pumping system. NASA Landsat image composed by Angela King. The Ten Depressions with the Lowest Dry Land 1) Dead Sea Depression - The lowest point on Earth Elevation: 413 meters below sea level (approximate and fluctuating) Country: Israel, Jordan, Syria Latitude/Longitude: 31°32′N 35°29′E The Dead Sea Depression is an extensive area of land that is below sea level. It contains the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, a portion of the Jordan River, large areas of cultivated land and many communities. The shoreline of the Dead Sea is the lowest dry land on Earth. It is approximately 413 meters below sea level. However, this elevation is constantly changing.

The surface of the Dead Sea rises and falls as precipitation, evaporation, irrigation, salt production and other natural and human activities consume the water of the Jordan River, the Dead Sea and its tributaries. 2) Lake Assal (in the Afar Depression) Elevation: 155 meters below sea level (approximate and fluctuating) Country: Djibouti Latitude/Longitude: 11°39′N 42°25′E The shoreline of Lake Assal is the lowest point in Africa and the second lowest location on Earth. Lake Assal is located in the Afar Depression which is formed at a triple junction of tectonic plates (Indian, African and Arabian). The relative motion of these plates produces a divergence that results in a lowering of Earth's surface. Lake Assal's water emerges from springs which are believed to be fed by groundwater flow from the Gulf of Tadjoura. This water evaporates rapidly because the climate there is one of the hottest and driest on Earth. This high evaporation rate makes Lake Assal the saltiest body of water on Earth.

3) Turfan Depression Dead Sea and Oasis En Gedi - YouTube Dead Sea and Oasis En Gedi Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Jan 16, 2013 The Dead Sea is Earth´s lowest elevation. Its surface and shores are 423 metres (1,388 ft) below sea level. The Dead Sea is a salt lake with a salinity of 32%. The Jordan River with his 3 sources is the only inflow to the Dead Sea. The sea level decreases annually by 1 metre. The Dead Sea has no outflow. The surface area of the Dead Sea is 810 qkm. (only North Basin) The Oasis En Gedi is situated on the eastern border of the Judean Desert on the Dead Sea coast.

(En = well, spring) Category What Is The Lowest Point On Earth What Is The Lowest Point On Earth 02 Apr, 2011 what is 0 Most people are well aware that the highest point on the planet is Mount Everest in Nepal. It is a staggering 8,848 meters (29,029 ft) above sea level. Many have set themselves the challenge of reaching the summit and such a feat is considered an outstanding achievement. However, the lowest point on the earth is not common knowledge and many people could not tell you its name and where it is located. So what is the lowest point on the earth? Read on to find out. The Lowest Point on Land The lowest point on earth that is not beneath the oceans of the world is the Dead Sea on the boarder of Israel and Jordan in the Middle East. It surface and shoreline currently measures 423 meters (1,388 ft) below sea level. The amazing thing about the Dead Sea is that it is becoming lower as water is diverted from entering the sea. In years to come it may be measured at even lower than it currently is.

The Dead Sea is 67 kilometers (42 mi) long and 18 kilometers (11 mi) wide and377 m (1,237 ft) deep. It is the deepest hyper saline lake in the world. It is one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water with a salinity of 33.7%. That makes it 8 ½ times more salty than the ocean! The Lowest Point under the Ocean The deepest part of the ocean on the earth is the Marianas Trench. It is estimated to be an amazing 10,971 m (35,994 ft) deep. The Marianas Trench is in the Pacific Ocean to the east of the Mariana Islands off the coast of Guam. It is 2,550 kilometres (1,580 mi) long and has an average width of 69 kilometres (43 mi).

Related Articles Below Sea Level: The World's Ten Lowest Points of Land | WanderWisdom Below Sea Level: The World's Ten Lowest Points of Land Below Sea Level: The World's Ten Lowest Points of Land Updated on October 13, 2016 Joined: 7 years agoFollowers: 383Articles: 98 59 Twelve Places to Visit in Hampton Roads, Virginia 6 months ago Unknown to many is the fact that there is dry land below the level of the ocean. It sounds counter-intuitive but our planet has a number of dry patches of land which occur, unbelievably, below 0 feet—or mean sea level. The origins of these areas, featured below, are mostly the result of two geological and geographical phenomena. The first is a rift valley, or an area on the surface of the Earth which is being split or rended apart, causing the ground to 'drop' resulting in a graben. The second is merely the drying of lake or sea. Dry climates, or deserts, are handmaidens of these two aforementioned phenomena as previously submerged areas have gradually been evaporated leaving dry ground below sea level.

In other instances, the most famous being in the Netherlands, people have reclaimed land from the sea or a lake and built protective walls around the reclaimed land, and often the areas reclaimed fall slightly below sea level. Advertisement Zuidplaspolder, Netherlands. | Source 1. Lammefjord, Denmark & Zuidplaspolder, Netherlands Western Europe’s two lowest points are split between two areas in Denmark and the Netherlands respectively, each 23 feet below sea level (-7 meters.) Unlike the other areas on this page, both low points are the result of human-induced land drainage. The polders in the Netherlands are areas that were reclaimed from the sea by the Dutch since the 13thcentury. Land was drained and a wall was built up around it to protect it from the sea, not unlike natural levees that formed in the lower Mississippi River near New Orleans that left some areas around the Crescent City five to seven feet below sea level. Similar to Zuidplaspolder, Lammefjord in Denmark was reclaimed to make room for agricultural land. An arm of the Isefjord, it was finally pumped dry of water in 1943, and a dyke was constructed to keep water out.

Advertisement Lake Hart in the Lake Eyre basin, South Australia. | Source 2. Lake Eyre, Australia Occasionally this basin will fill with water, temporarily turning it into Australia’s largest lake, but the occasion is only ephemeral. Most of the time the Lake Eyre Basin in South Australia is the continent’s lowest point at 49 feet below sea level (15 meters.) Filled with a salt pan and having no outlets, similar to many of the Earth’s below-sea-level basins, Lake Eyre is typically hot for most of the year and located in a desert. The basin floor is the remnant of an ancient lake bed. Advertisement Pelicans at the Salton Sea, California. | Source 3. Salton Sea, California, USA The Salton Sea sits in a graben in the Southern California desert, submerging part of the otherwise exposed San Andreas rift zone between two continental plates, not unlike the Dead Sea rift zone between Israel and Jordan, the lowest spot on earth. The Salton Sea is 234 feet (71.3 meters) below sea level and is a saline lake as well as the largest lake in California.

With a maximum depth of 43 feet (13 meters), the lake’s deepest point is only 5 feet higher than Death Valley’s Badwater. The lake was formed in 1905 after heavy rains swelled waters enough to overrun canals in the Imperial Valley. The excess water flowed back into the basin to the north. Various settlements have attempted to exploit the lake recreationally with some sporadic success but the Salton Sea remains threatened by increasing levels of salinity and fertilizer runoff from the Imperial Valley. Still, it remains an important bird migratory stop on the North American flyway. Fishing for Tilapia is popular as it's the only species that can survive the levels of salinity here at 5.0% w/v. Advertisement 'Badwater', Death Valley, California. Telescope Peak is in the background (left). | Source 4. Death Valley, California, USA This is the lowest, driest, and hottest place in North America.

The ancient lakebed which serves as the floor of this graben is 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level and the lowest point is known as ‘Badwater.’ Death Valley, like many other deep valleys in the same region, is the result of a block of the Earth’s crust sinking as the ‘skin’ gets stretched forming the basin and range region of the area collectively known as the Great Basin. Interestingly, there is a marker on the cliff overhead which denotes ‘Sea Level’, or zero feet. Across the salt flat is the summit of Telescope Peak which rises to more than 11,000 feet above sea level—a huge contrast in elevations and life zones respectively. Death Valley is within Death Valley National Park in the Mojave Desert of California and is easily accessed by roadways. Not to anyone’s surprise, it is not often visited in the summer because of the extreme heat. Advertisement 5. Argentina: Laguna del Carbon, Bajo del Gualicho, Salina Grande, and Saline Chica Within Argentina are all of the significant areas in South America that are below sea level.

Among them is the lowest place in the southern and western hemisphere respectively, the Laguna del Carbon which bottoms out at -344 feet (-105 meters.) All three areas are located in the southern provinces of Argentina. The Laguna del Carbon, in Santa Cruz Province, is an endorheic salt lake, meaning it has no outflow or is in a closed basin. Bajo del Gualicho, in Rio Negro Province, is 236 feet below sea level (-72 meters.) Best known for its wildlife, the Valdes Peninsula in Chubut Province is home to the barren Salina Grande and Salina Chica which have a low elevation of -138 feet (-42 meters.) Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan. | Source 6. Caspian Sea/Caspian Depression The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water in the world and its shore is 92 feet below sea level (-28 meters.) It sits at the bottom of the largest area in the world below sea level straddling the borders of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. It’s a salt lake and considered endorheic having no natural outflow.

The deepest dry point of this huge depression lies in Kazakhstan. Known as the Caspian Depression in general, the low point, Karigiye, is 433 feet (–132 meters) below sea level which is a karst trench on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea. Siwa Oasis, Qattara Depression, Egypt. | Source 7. Qattara Depression, Egypt Africa is home to the largest number of places below sea level and North Africa in particular has the most locations within the continent. The Qattara Depression in Egypt’s Libyan Desert, Africa’s second lowest point, is a huge area covering over 7,000 square miles of land, below sea level, averaging close to 200 feet below sea level (-70 meters.) The maximum depth below sea level reaches -436 feet (-133 meters.) An endorheic basin, the Qattara Depression is very dry but supports oases, of which the most famous are Siwa and Cana, both inhabited. Salt pans, dunes, and bizarre wind-eroded rocks are common in the Qattara Depression.

Other areas in North Africa below sea level include Sebkha paki Tah, Morocco, (-55 meters/-180 feet below sea level), Sabkhat Ghuzayyil, Libya (-47 meters/-154 feet), Chott Melrhir, Algeria (-40 m/-131 feet), and Shatt al Gharsah, Tunisia (-17 m/-56 feet.) Bezeklik, Turpan Depression, China. | Source 8. Turpan Depression, China This trough is the Earth’s third lowest point reaching an elevation of 505 feet below sea level (-154 meters.) Located in China’s western desert region south of Mongolia, the Turpan Depression is the country’s hottest and driest area. Formed by a fault, this depression is huge and expansive and is surrounded by some of the tallest mountains on earth, notably the Tian Shan and Bogda Shan. The region has a storied history and the ruins found throughout the basin are attributed to the Silk Road route that ran through here two thousand years ago.

A crossroads of cultures, some of the historic and archeological sites in the region include the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, the Gaochang Ruins, and the Astana-Karakhoja ancient tombs. Lake Assal, Djibouti. | Source 9. Lake Assal, Djibouti Lake Assal is at the bottom of a crater lake which lies 509 feet (-155 meters) below sea level, making it the second lowest point on earth after the Dead Sea rift zone. The larger region, known as the Afar Depression, extends into Ethiopia where the Danakil Depression has a low elevation of 410 feet below sea level (-125 meters.) National Geographic described it as the “cruelest place on earth.” The area is at the northern reaches of Africa’s Great Rift Valley, which is an elongated rift valley where two plates are splitting apart. Lake Assal is the lowest point of land in Africa and it is marked by extremely high temperatures, volcanic landscapes, and desert—typical of most the Earth’s low points. Dead Sea from the Israeli side. | Source 10.

Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee, Israel, Jordan The Dead Sea is the world’s lowest point of land at 1,388 feet below sea level (-423 meters), more than twice as deep as the remaining areas below sea level. Sitting between Israel and Jordan, the Dead Sea is incredibly saline, at 33.7%, and mostly devoid of life. Connected by the Jordan River fifty miles to the north, the Sea of Galilee, also called Lake of Gennesaret, Kinneret, and Lake Tiberias, is the world’s lowest freshwater lake at 702 feet below sea level (-214 meters), making it the second lowest point on the Earth’s surface. While the Dead Sea is considered a hypersaline, endorheic body of water, the Sea of Galilee has both an inflow and outflow provided by the Jordan River. The two bodies of water can hardly be more of a contrast.

Occupying the Jordan Rift Valley, the Dead Sea is a stark, forbidding landscape seemingly barren of life whereas the Sea of Galilee, true to its biblical roots, is life-giving with leafy shores now occupied by dozens of resort hotels which sit adjacent to fertile groves of fruit orchards. The area’s historical significance requires no special explanation as both lakes are located at arguably the world’s crossroads of history and civilization. Sept. 17 2013 5:20 AM The Dead Sea Is Dying Sinkholes. Habitat destruction. Perilously low water levels. Can a dying sea be saved? By Eetta Prince-Gibson Once covered by water, this former site of Numeira Salt Industries near Haditha, Jordan, is now riddled with sinkholes. Photo by Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos EIN GEDI, Israel—Ten years ago, during a routine early-morning solo tour of the area surrounding his kibbutz, Ein Gedi, on the shores of the Dead Sea, geographer-geologist Eli Raz heard an ominous rumbling noise.

Raz, who is widely considered Israel’s foremost expert on sinkholes—those terrifying crater-like holes that open up without warning—immediately knew that he was about to be swallowed up. Sitting in his windowless, cramped office on the kibbutz, Raz, 70, a wiry, sun-wizened man with thick silver hair, tells his tale calmly. “I fell in, tumbling down, deeper, deeper. I thought I’d be buried alive. Instinctively, I started to dig upward, and realized that I was lucky—not much earth had fallen in, and I had landed on a sort of ledge. I could breathe. As the dust settled, I could see the sunlight at the top. But climbing out wasn’t an option—I was afraid the hole would collapse on top of me. I was even afraid to move. “I realized that I had my pack with me—a camera, a flashlight, a pen, a piece of paper, and toilet paper. I didn’t have water. I had my cellphone, too, but it doesn’t work from deep inside the earth,” he adds.

He was confident that the kibbutz rescue team—which he had established and trained—would eventually realize that he was missing and come rescue him. Meanwhile, Raz, ever the industrious scientist, began taking photographs. “After all,” he quips, “how many times do we get an opportunity to take pictures of a sinkhole from inside?” Advertisement As time passed, he began to write to his wife, children, and grandchildren to help keep calm. He wrote on the piece of paper and then the toilet tissue, finishing by nightfall. In his office, Raz fishes through an office cabinet stuffed with documents and takes out a small tin box. Carefully, he unrolls the toilet paper, covered with his neat, thin writing and shows it to me. “I won’t tell you what I wrote,” he says. “It was meant only for my family.” Sinkholes in this region, he explains, are the result of the interaction between freshwater and a subterranean salt layer, buried beneath the surface. The freshwater dissolves the salt, creating an underground void, which causes the surface to collapse suddenly. Scientists have no way to determine when, or even precisely where, a sinkhole may open.

But they are opening around the Dead Sea at an alarming rate of nearly one a day. The first ones appeared in the 1980s, and by 1990, there were about 40. Today, Raz estimates, there are more than 3,000 around the Dead Sea on the Israeli side alone. The reason? The Dead Sea is drying up, and dropping salt water levels mean there is more fresh water to eat away at the salt. “Sinkholes are caused by human irresponsibility,” he says. “For more than 30 years, I’ve been studying them and trying to warn everyone—especially government officials—that if we don’t do something about the situation in the Dead Sea, the sinkholes will swallow us up.” Sinkholes along the Dead Sea. Photo by Heidi Hansen/Moment Magazine After 14 hours, the kibbutz rescue team found Raz and extracted him from the sinkhole, which was nearly 27 feet deep. He was dehydrated, and his muscles ached from crouching for an extended time in the same cramped position, but otherwise he was unharmed.

It took a few days before the irony dawned on him—the Dead Sea had taken its revenge on him, of all people. * * * Advertisement The Dead Sea is known by many names: In Hebrew it is Yam Hamelach, the Salt Sea; in Arabic it is al-Bahr al-Mayyit, the Dead Sea and also Bahr Lot, Lot’s Sea. Spanning more than 60 miles through Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan, it sits 1,388 feet below sea level and is the lowest place on the surface of the planet. The appellation “sea” is a misnomer: It is technically a lake at the end of the Jordan River. Its waters are salty, not because they are seawater, but because there are no outlets, and untold quantities of minerals, including salt, have been deposited there. The Dead Sea, in fact, is more than 10 times saltier than the northern Atlantic Ocean, making it unable to support any life other than microbes. The sea has survived for millennia thanks to a steady equilibrium between water flowing in from the Jordan River and water evaporating out in scorching heat that, on summer days, often tops 120 degrees.

This equilibrium between water flowing in and out was maintained as long as the region was sparsely settled, as it has been throughout history. Thought to be the site of the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah, the basin and surrounding hills attracted fanatics and hermits, believers and contemplators, but never in great numbers. A temple high up in the hills overlooking the sea dates back to the Chalcolithic period (between 4500 and 3500 BC). At the beginning of the Common Era, the mysterious sect of Essenes set up their community in the remote region, leaving behind the Dead Sea scrolls buried in jars in nearby caves. Not far away, on the rocky plateau of Masada, Herod the Great built palaces for himself, and in 73, 960 Jewish zealots committed suicide en masse rather than submit to Roman rule.* According to first-century historian Josephus Flavius, Emperor Vespasian threw chained slaves into the body of water to test its legendary buoyancy. Fortunately the salt-laden heavy water kept them afloat. Later, Byzantine monks built their monasteries here, Crusaders their castles.

But over the past 50 years, increasing numbers of people and industries have been drawn to the Dead Sea’s environs. Even more of a problem, the combined population of Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories has nearly quadrupled from some 5.3 million to more than 20 million. These countries—plus Syria and Lebanon—have tapped the Jordan River and its tributaries, and the Dead Sea has paid the price. A few generations ago, more than 343 billion gallons of fresh water rushed from the Kinneret (also known as the Sea of Galilee) through the Jordan into the Dead Sea; today, fewer than 26.4 billion gallons trickle in. Israel’s largest water project, the National Water Carrier, diverts water from the Kinneret that would have fed the Dead Sea to supply the center and the southwest of the country. Jordan, through its King Abdullah Canal, reroutes more than 90 percent of its share of the Jordan River to farmland, taps, and bathrooms. Then there’s Syria, which siphons off water from the Jordan’s northern tributary, the Yarmuk River.

At the same time, the Israel Chemicals Company and the Jordanian Arab Potash Company located on the southern rim of the Dead Sea pump out giant amounts of water to fill the evaporation pools needed to extract minerals, primarily potash and magnesium. This alone, experts say, is responsible for about 30 to 40 percent of the decrease in water levels. Receding waters, as seen from Masada. The ancient fortress city stands on a rocky plateau at the western edge of the Judean Desert. Photo by James Gose/Creative Commons Advertisement As a result, the Dead Sea is shrinking by more than three feet a year and receding from the shore at an even higher rate. “Human intervention has just about killed the Dead Sea,” says Alon Tal, professor in the Department of Desert Ecology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, author of Pollution in a Promised Land: An Environmental History of Israel and an expert on the Israeli environment and ecology. “It will take extraordinary human measures—careful, wise intervention and positive regional cooperation—to save it.” Tal has seen this scenario before in Israel.

He is reminded of the Hula Valley where early pioneers forced “nature to bow to their demands” and drained the valley’s swamps to make room for farms, upsetting nature’s balance and creating unforeseen problems. More recently, “We took the waters that fed the Dead Sea to make the desert bloom and created Hebrew agriculture,” he says. “But we killed the Dead Sea in the process.” Unlike the Hula Valley, the Dead Sea is not completely under Israeli jurisdiction, and the cause of its ills cannot be blamed on one nation alone. In a region known for its political tensions, possible remedies are entangled with international complexities. So as experts, politicians and diplomats argue over its fate, little is being done to keep the Dead Sea alive. And doing nothing, warns Tal, is the worst alternative of all. * * * Advertisement Carefully, gingerly, Raz guides me through an abandoned campground and spa area only a few yards from Highway 90, the main north-south road on the Israeli side of the Dead Sea. “Kibbutz Ein Gedi invested millions of shekels here,” he says. “But eight years ago, one of the women working here was sucked into a sinkhole.

She wasn’t hurt, but we couldn’t take a chance. We abandoned the site immediately; we couldn’t even take out the equipment—the insurance companies wouldn’t let us.” There are more than a dozen dangerously gaping sinkholes in this area alone. The beach cabanas have tipped over and collapsed. Once-lush greenery planted by kibbutz members has dried up; only a few intrepid Sodom Apple trees, with their delicate geometrically patterned flowers and strange, puffy, and poisonous fruits, hang on. Signs in Hebrew, English, and Arabic warn to stay away and beware of sinkholes. Raz chuckles cynically. “How can you be careful? No one knows where the next one will open up.” He points to one. “That’s new,” he says miserably. “This one wasn’t here a week ago… It’s only a matter of time until we have to leave this entire area.” Although no one has yet died in a sinkhole in Israel, there have been several serious injuries, and sinkholes are a direct threat to tourism, the main livelihood of the kibbutz and the entire Dead Sea region.

Currently, tens of thousands of tourists visit every year, splashing in nearby freshwater pools, floating in the salty sea and slathering themselves with mineral-rich mud. Tourism makes up about 40 percent of the income of the half-dozen flourishing Jewish communities along the northern edge of the Dead Sea, most of them set up after Israel conquered this part of the West Bank in the Six Day War. Jordan is also investing heavily in tourism in the region, and the Palestinians have plans to develop hotels and health spas in their future state. Advertisement Sinkholes are also threatening agriculture—mostly date farming—in the region, another major source of revenue for kibbutzim, such as Ein Gedi. Raz points to a date orchard on the other side of Highway 90, also abandoned because of sinkholes. The trees still stand tall, but, without water, the sun has burned them black. “It’s sad to see an abandoned orchard,” says Raz. Salt crystals along the Dead Sea shore. Photo by Heidi Hansen/Moment Magazine The sea’s receding waters have caused other problems. Unsightly mudflats now line the shore where water once lapped.

Matthew Sperber, general manager of Kibbutz Almog, located on the shore’s edge, points to the kibbutz’s lucrative beach resort. Only five years ago, the kibbutz built carefully landscaped steps that led to the water’s edge. But now the steps lead only to a dock to nowhere, hanging about three yards above and more than 13 yards from the shoreline. “We’re trying to chase the water,” Sperber says. “Eventually, we’ll lose the race.” At the southern edge of the Dead Sea, five-star resorts and spas, such as Le Méridien and the Prima Hotel’s Spa Club, are also at risk—of flooding. They are not far from mineral companies such as Israel Chemical’s Dead Sea Works, where the potash extraction process creates an unwanted byproduct: Huge quantities of useless salt sink to the bottom of the evaporation ponds, causing water levels to rise. Several years ago, hotel owners on the Israeli side sued the Dead Sea Works and the Israeli government; as part of a settlement, the companies agreed to mine the salt to lower the water levels. The process, estimated to cost well over a billion dollars, is supposed to begin next year.

But it’s still not clear where the salt will be dumped. If it dies, the Dead Sea will also kill its unique natural habitat. Although the water is barren of most life, the surrounding ecosystem includes springs that support a surprisingly rich range of flora and fauna. One such oasis is Einot Tzukim Nature Preserve—more often referred to by its Arabic name, Ein Feshkha, and also known as the “Concealed Preserve.” Located in the West Bank and under Israeli control, it is open to the public only at pre-arranged times. Here, some 160 underground springs run down from the Judean hills and bubble up to the surface, forming sweet-water pools where fish swim quietly. Rushes and sugar cane wave in breezes cooled by the pools, which are ringed by tamarisk trees and other native plants. Advertisement Kingfishers, a sharp stripe of turquoise against the haze, dive for food. Ein Feshkha is a major migration path for birds through the Middle East; some half a billion birds pass through here each season, according to Ariel Meroz, a geology student at Hebrew University who works as a Parks Authority guide in the preserve. The birds are not alone.

Numerous varieties of bugs and invertebrates have adapted to life here, and ibex, hyrax, wild boars, desert cats, hyenas, jackals, and wolves come to drink from the pools. Until recently there were leopards here too, as well as in the neighboring oasis of Ein Gedi. Most famously, the leopard of Ein Gedi—Shlomtzion, affectionately named for Jewish queen Salome Alexandra—prowled here for 16 years. Shlomtzion died in 1995, and no one has sighted a leopard since. * * * Ibex and other animals roam the nearby mountains. Hundreds of species of insects and birds are native to the region as well. Courtesy of Moment Magazine/Creative Commons How can an environmental catastrophe be averted? One possibility under discussion is a massive public works project on a scale rarely seen on the international scene. This year, the World Bank presented a bold plan to replenish the Dead Sea with water from the Red Sea, south of Israel.

The idea of a canal linking the Dead Sea to either the Red Sea—known as the Red-Dead—or the Mediterranean—the Med-Dead—dates back to 1899, when Abraham Bourcart, a Swiss engineer and a Christian who enthusiastically supported the Zionist dream, suggested a Med-Dead canal to Theodor Herzl and the World Zionist leadership. The idea has surfaced numerous times over the years. In 1977, facing the oil crisis, the Israeli government even appointed an official committee to come up with operational plans. But nothing ever materialized. The canal plan was resurrected at the 2002 Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, when Israel and Jordan announced—to the great surprise of many, including members of the Israeli government—that they would be turning to the World Bank to prepare a comprehensive report, including a feasibility study, an environmental study, and a social assessment, for a trilateral plan with the Palestinian Authority for a Red-Dead conduit. The behind-the-scenes discussions that led to the announcement seemed to promise something for everyone. Jordan, with few freshwater resources and no oil to power desalination plants, had long been considering some form of Red-Dead conduit, even if it meant going it alone.

Shimon Peres, now Israel’s president but then its foreign minister, jumped at the opportunity for a large, high-tech, world-captivating cooperative project that would help extricate Israel from its uncomfortable international position and push the region into the “New Middle East.” Palestinians wanted in as well; for them, participation in a project like this would mean world recognition of their status and their rights in the West Bank. And the idea apparently also appealed to James Wolfensohn, then President of the World Bank, who, a source close to him says, “has always had a deep personal hope to bring peace to the Middle East.” It took years to organize, raise the money and conduct the feasibility study, but the Red-Dead project as put forth in the 2013 World Bank proposal is both conceptually simple and astoundingly complex. It calls for annually pumping up to 528 billion gallons of water through 111 miles of tunnels and pipes on the Jordanian side from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.

Hydraulic stations would take advantage of the height differentials, and desalination plants would provide potable water for Jordan, the West Bank, and Israel, while the remaining briny water would be pumped back into the Dead Sea to raise its level. A view of a new desalination plant is seen in the city of Hadera, Israel, Sunday, May 16, 2010. Photo by Ariel Schalit/AP Photo It would seem to be a win-win-win scenario, but environmentalists warn that the Red-Dead, rather than healing the Dead Sea, just might serve as its death knell. They are ringing an array of alarm bells: One is that mixing the waters could result in an algae bloom that might give the Dead Sea a reddish hue. Another is that a coat of white gypsum would form on the top. Although the ecological effects of these chemical changes are still unclear, they would likely diminish the sea’s tourist appeal. A third concern is the high frequency of earthquakes in the region between the Red and Dead Seas: Seismic activity could cause salt water to leak into underground fresh water aquifers.

“Why not simply introduce water conservation, rather than a multibillion dollar pipeline project that will cause irreversible damage?” demands Gidon Bromberg, the Israeli head of Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME), a joint Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian environmental group. But he acknowledges that this is easier said than done. Changing public behavior is a long-term process—and of little interest to most politicians. “They would much rather be seen cutting a ribbon over a grandiose plant than over a toilet that uses grey water,” he says cynically. Eli Raz doesn’t like the plan either. He’d prefer to see the Dead Sea’s problems solved by rehabilitating the Jordan River and utilizing desalination to supply a larger percentage of water to Israel’s densely populated Mediterranean coast. But this would require a systemic, cooperative regional approach to water sharing—which is about as scarce as water in this part of the world. The Israeli and Jordanian governments both officially support the Red-Dead. The Jordanians are so gung ho that they announced in August that they are pressing ahead with parts of the project on their own. The Palestinians, however, insist that they are being ignored and deprived of their rights.

Water has been a source of ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, since Israel controls the major renewable water resources throughout the West Bank. Although the Oslo Accords of 1995 provided for Palestinian access to water sources, the arrangements were never implemented by either side. While the Palestinian Authority supports the Red-Dead in principle, it will not move forward unless a water desalination plant is constructed at Ein Feshkha, allowing the West Bank partial independence from Israel’s water supply, according to an individual close to the Palestinian Water Authority, speaking on condition of anonymity, The Palestinian demands are “not something that we are discussing,” says Maya Eldar, an advisor to Israel’s Regional Cooperation Minister Silvan Shalom. In fact, the Israelis can’t even agree among themselves. Shalom is a fervent supporter of the Red-Dead, while Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz just as fervently opposes it. But even if environmental issues and diplomatic squabbles could be overcome, the cost of the Red-Dead—an estimated $15 billion to 17 billion—is prohibitive.

According to the World Bank feasibility study, the economic viability of the project is dependent on international grants totaling $5 billion, and Jordan must raise an additional $2.5 billion in loans to pay for bringing the desalinated water 124 miles to Amman, which is 3,280 feet higher than the Dead Sea. Only then will the private sector kick in the remaining $2.6 billion. And after all that, the cost of the desalinated water in Jordan could be so high that it would have to be subsidized by the government. Given the current world financial constraints, such funding is doubtful. Jordan’s financial resources are strained by the thousands of refugees from the Syrian civil war fleeing into the country. In its current state, the Palestinian Authority is unlikely to receive grants or loans like this, and Israel certainly cannot pick up the tab—or even the loans—on its own. Salt crystals surround trees and other plants in the shallow waters. The water’s 33.7 percent salinity can’t support life other than microbes.

Photos by Heidi Hansen/Moment Magazine Earlier this year, the World Bank actively touted the plan and held several raucous public meetings at various locations in Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank to promote it. But now it seems to be pulling back, at least publicly. In a telephone conversation, Alex McPhail, project study manager for the World Bank, said that “the World Bank has decided not to comment on this project at this time.” Whether it is the Red-Dead or some other solution, something has to be done. Surveying the deserted landscape, Eli Raz sighs, “Water should not be a reason for conflict—there isn’t enough to argue about, certainly not in the Dead Sea basin. Water should be the reason for smart, regional cooperation. There’s an expression from the army: ‘If we can’t hang onto each other, we’ll be hung next to each other.’ But no one seems to get it.” This article originally appeared in Moment magazine’s September/October issue. Moment magazine is an independent bimonthly of politics, culture, and religion, co-founded by Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel. For more go to momentmag.com . Correction, Sept.

18, 2013: Due to a Moment production error, this article originally misstated the date of Masada. It was 73 C.E., not B.C.E.

Question: What salty lake is located at 1,388 ft below sea level?
Answer: Dead Sea