dead sea

     

The Dea Sea (Arabic: البَحْر المَيّت‎, al-Baḥrᵘ l-Mayyitᵘ, "Dead Sea";Hebrew: יָם הַ‏‏מֶ‏ּ‏לַ‏ח‎, Yām Ha-Melaḥ, "Sea of Salt") is a salt lake between Israel (and the West Bank) to the west, and Jordan to the east. It is 420 metres (1,378 ft) below sea level, and its shores are the lowest point on the surface of the Earth on dry land. The Dead Sea is 330 m (1,083 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. It is also the world's second saltiest body of water, after Lake Asal in Djibouti, with 30 percent salinity. It is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. Israeli experts say that it is nine times saltier than the Mediterranean Sea (31.5% salt versus 3.5% for the Mediterranean). 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.

Trivia about dead sea

  • This "lifeless" lake is known in Arabic as the Sea of Lot
  • In 1947 a Bedouin discovered important scrolls in a cave on the shore of this sea
  • This "Sea" has heavy mineral deposits which make it saltier than the oceans & almost uninhabitable
  • Cleopatra is said to have used rejuvenating products from this saline body of water in which the Jordan ends
  • Genesis calls it "the salt sea" perhaps because its salinity reaches 4 times that of ocean water
  • The lowest settlement in the world is Israel's Ein Bokek on the shore of this sea
  • Moab, Ruth's home, sits on the east side of this sea
  • It's no wonder Lot's wife was changed into a pillar of salt; she & Lot lived by this "sea" that's really a lake
  • The shoreline of this sea is about 1,300 feet below sea level
  • Although called a sea, it's actually a large salty lake between Israel & Jordan
  • On the Israel-Jordan border:394 square miles
  • At 1,290 feet below sea level, the world's lowest road lies along the shores of this sea
  • The rock & fortress of Masada are found by this sea's shore
  • The Al Lisan Peninsula separates this saltiest body of water on Earth into northern & southern basins
  • The lowest land point on Earth is the shore of this body of water
  • Grab your surfboard, rad boy! In Deuteronomy, this sea is referred to as the "salt sea"
  • Because the Jordan is at a tenth of its normal flow, the briny waters of this sea have dropped 130 feet since 1980
  • The ancient fortress of Masada sits on a rock on the shore of this "lake"
  • Fed by the Jordan River, it's the saltiest body of water on Earth
  • A jug of oil used to anoint kings of ancient Judah was recently found at Qumran near this body of water
  • Some archaeologists believe that the sites of Sodom & Gomorrah lie under this body of water
  • This lake holds 2 extreme world records: the saltiest & the lowest
  • The Jordan of Israel