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The Dead Sea
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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!
How far does one have to descend to
reach the Dead Sea? About 400 meters below sea level. How deep is this salty
lake? Almost the same (in the northern section). Fascinating? Absolutely! Every
detail about the Dead Sea is fascinating.
Here are a few more facts: The Dead
Sea is the lowest point on earth in any land mass (417 meters below sea level,
to be exact). The quantity of water that evaporates from it is greater than
that which flows into it, such that this body of water has the highest
concentration of salt in the world (340 grams per liter of water).
It is called the Dead Sea because
its salinity prevents the existence of any life forms in the lake. That same
salt, on the other hand, provides tremendous relief to the many ailing visitors
who come here on a regular basis to benefit from its healing properties. All
these and more make the Dead Sea so fascinating, so different and so
interesting.
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.
2. The Dead
Sea is 377 m (1,237 ft) deep, making it the deepest hyper saline lake in the
world. A hyper saline 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.
3. With
33.7% salinity, the Dead Sea is one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water.
Although Lake Assail (Djibouti), Garabogazköl and some hyper saline lakes of
the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond) have reported
higher salinities.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Peraea and Dead Sea
On the eastern shore of the
Dead Sea, where the river Jordan comes to an end, and laying between two
valleys (wadi), positively identified as the wadi Zerqa Ma'in and wadi
Mujib-Arnon, one sees two spas: at Baaru (modern-day Hammamat Ma'in) depicted
as being inside the mountain and the thermal baths of Kalliroe (today's Zara)
pride of the Madaba region. Here, apart from the two little palm trees that
indicate the oasis, there are also indicated three springs whose waters are
gathered in basins. The water of the southernmost spring sprouts directly from
the mountain before ending up in the sea like the other two. On his dead bed,
King Herod came to the hot waters of Calliroe in search of relief from his
pains.
The mosaicist depicted two
sailing boats with two sailors each in the Dead Sea, reminding the viewer of
the sea traffic which was the easiest form of connection between the opposite
shores.
Salt, also Pitch Lake, also
the Dead Sea, is what the mosaicist writes in the caption, quoting the
Onomasticon of Eusebius who had in turn drawn upon the biblical text where the
Dead Sea is also called the Sea of Marabah and Eastern Sea to distinguish it
from the West Sea or Mediterranean.
In greco-roman times it was
known as the Pitch Sea because of the bitumen that was extracted from it.
During the same period it began being called Dead Sea because it lacked all
form of life because of its highly concentrated salinity.
In the Bible it is the Salt
Sea resulting from a divine curse against the cities of Sodom and Gomorra which
cities rose in a "plain, irrigated everywhere like the garden of Yahweh or
the land of Egypt, as far as Zoar" (Gen 13,10).
Zoar, where the just man Lot ,
Abraham's nephew lived, was the only city to survive the destruction. On the
south eastern shore of the Dead Sea the mosaicist presents the oasis of Balak
or Segor now Zoara (modern-day Ghor al-Safy). This city was an episcopal seat
in the byzantine epoch.
A church situated on a mountain
to the east of the city is identified as being the shrine of Saint Lot. This
shrine has been recently brought to light by archaeologists on a steep
precipitous crag.
The caption the desert
,written in the plural and placed to the south of the Dead Sea, introduces the
arid valley of Arabah which continues up to the coast of the Red Sea. (Michele
Piccirillo)
