The Dead Sea is the Earths lowest point that is not covered by ice. It is located 418 metres (1371 feet) below sea level and falling. It is the deepest hypersaline lake in the world and has a depth of 330 metres (1083 feet) deep.
It is the second saltiest body of water on Earth, with a salinity of about 30 percent. Only Lake Asal (Djibouti) has a higher salinity. This is about 8.6 times greater than average ocean salinity. It measures 67 km (42 miles) long, 18 km (11 miles) wide at its widest point and is located on the border between the West Bank, Jordan and Israel and lies in the Jordan Rift Valley. Its main inflowing river is the Jordan River. There are no outlet streams.
The northern part of the Dead Sea receives scarcely 100 mm (4 in) of rain a year. The southern section barely receives 50 mm (2 in).
The climate around the Dead Sea is year-round sunny skies. The air is dry and contains low pollution. The area receives less than 50 mm mean annual rainfall. The average Summer temperature is between 32 and 39 degrees Celsius. Winter average temperatures vary between 20 to 23 degrees Celsius. The climate around the sea has a high oxygen content due to the high barometric pressure. The shore is lowest dry place in the world.
The Dead Sea has attracted interest and visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. It was a place of refuge for King David, one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of products as diverse as balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers.
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Because of its unusually high concentration of salt, anyone can easily float in the Dead Sea because of natural buoyancy as a result of the higher density of the water.
In this aspect, the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah, in the United States.
One of the most unusual properties of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt.
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From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles of the black substance. After earthquakes, chunks as large as houses may be produced. |
The sea is called "dead" because its high salinity means no fish or macroscopic aquatic organisms can live in it, though minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present.
Many animal species make their homes in the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea. Animals that can be observed are: camels, ibex, hares, hyraxes, jackals, foxes and even leopards. Hundreds of bird species inhabit the zone as well. Both Jordan and Israel have established nature reserves around the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea has its therapeutic values:
Climatotherapy:- Treatment which exploits local climatic features such as temperature, humidity, sunshine, Barometric pressure and special Atmospheric constituents.
Heliotherapy:- Treatment that exploits the biological effects of the sun's radiation. It has proven effective in treating Acne vulgaris, seasonal affective disorder, and for some people it has ameliorated delayed sleep phase syndrome. It has recently been shown effective in non-seasonal depression. Proponents claim demonstrable benefits for skin conditions such as psoriasis and, more controversially, a degree of "skin rejuvenation."
Thalassotherapy:- the medical use of seawater. The properties of seawater are believed to have beneficial effects upon the pores of the skin.
Balneotherapy:- Treatment that exploits black mineral mud of the Dead Sea. It involves the treatment of disease by bathing. It may involve hot or cold water, massage via moving water, relaxation or stimulation. Many mineral waters at spas are rich in particular minerals (silica, sulfur, selenium, radium) which can be absorbed via the skin.
In recent decades, the Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking because of diversion of incoming water. From an elevation of 395 metres below sea level in 1970 it fell 22 metres to 418 metres below sea level in 2006, reaching a drop rate of 1 metre per year. Although the Dead Sea may never entirely disappear, because evaporation slows down as surface area decreases and salinity increases, it is feared that the Dead Sea may substantially change its characteristics.
