Is The Dead Sea & 10 Interesting Facts about the Dead Sea

 

Is TheDead Sea

 

The Dead Sea is one of the world's natural wonders. Its high salt and mineral levels are said to have healing powers, and people actually stay afloat in the water. But the Dead Sea is facing enormous challenges, threatening its survival. The Dead Sea's coastline is shared by Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. And its surface is currently situated 430 meters below sea level, making it the lowest point on Earth. It's a place of breathtaking natural beauty, with turquoise, cobalt blue waters, and stark mountain scenery. Its main source of water is the Jordan River, and there is no outlet, effectively making it a lake.

 

The Dead Sea is known for its incredibly high salt levels, almost 10 times higher than the ocean, the result of steady evaporation. Because of its high concentration of salt, people entering the water stay afloat, providing a once in a lifetime experience for many travelers. I'm walking on salt now, and I'm going into the water. Not for a swim, but for a float. It's important to avoid getting water in your eyes, or swallow it, which is not only very painful, but can even be dangerous.

 

The Dead Sea water is also said to have healing powers, due to its minerals, making it a popular destination for people who want to treat certain skin problems. But the Dead Sea is facing huge challenges, as its water levels are receding at alarming speed, with more than one meter per year. And it's mostly human activity that is at fault. Water that used to flow naturally from the Jordan River into the Dead Sea, is diverted for agricultural purposes and drinking water. In addition, a number of factories divert the water to extract its minerals, including most notably potash. Even though a lot of water is pumped back in, it is estimated that this process alone is responsible for around a quarter of all water lost. On top of all this, climate change is said to increase the evaporation process, adding to the unstable future of the Dead Sea. Some of the consequences are visible in the former holiday town of Ein Gedi, which is now completely closed off. Sinkholes have swallowed parts of the roads and buildings, turning this village into a ghost town. These sinkholes appear when the water recedes, leaving underground salt deposits.

 

When flash floods run through the area, those deposits are washed away, causing the ground to collapse. There are now thousands of sinkholes found in the region, and many more are formed each year. There have been numerous proposals to end the rapid decrease of water levels, including filling the Jordan River with desalinated water, or plans to build pipelines or canals to provide the Dead Sea with extra water. None of these have materialized, however, and may also not be enough to reverse the retreat. These days, most scientists fear that the Dead Sea's decline will continue for at least the next 100 years. It's a stark reminder of what can happen when we treat Mother Nature the way we do.

10 Interesting Facts about the Dead Sea

1. The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest our bodies of water on Earth, with nearly 10 instances extra salt than normal seawater. This is due to the fact water flows into the Dead Sea from one foremost tributary, the River Jordan. It then has no manner to get out of the lake and so is compelled to evaporate. The hovering warm and dry situations of this area suggest that big portions of water are evaporated. This ends in the salt and different minerals turning into an increasing number of concentrated. In fact, it’s envisioned that withinside the complete of the Dead Sea there's approximately 37 billion tonnes of salt.

2. The excessive salt and mineral content material of the Dead Sea suggest that this frame of water has effective recovery properties. It’s a famous vacation spot for treating pores and skin troubles which include acne, psoriasis and cellulite, in addition to muscle pain and arthritis. The Dead Sea is consequently the largest unfastened spa on Earth, drawing each vacationers and locals alike. However, in case you need to indulge further, you’ll discover masses of remedies on the inns and spas alongside its shores.

3. Its recovery waters were renowned even due to the fact Biblical times. Herod the Great, who reigned among 37 to four BC, constructed one of the world’s first fitness spas alongside its seashorelines. According to legend, Cleopatra additionally cherished the Dead Sea and used its merchandise as a part of her splendor regime.

4. The Dead Sea’s excessive salt stages imply that human beings can without problems go with the flow on its floor because of its herbal buoyancy. Bobbing round like a cork isn't best a fun-stuffed revel in however a splendid manner to loosen up after seeing Jordan and Israel’s different pinnacle sights.

5. Alongside being highly salty, the Dead Sea is well-known for being the bottom factor on Earth. Its floor measures round 423 metres beneath sea degree.

6. Highway 90, the world’s lowest road, runs alongside the Israeli and West Bank seashorelines of the Dead Sea. It measures about 393 metres beneath sea degree.

7. Sunbathing on the Dead Sea has much less of a sunburn chance than different destinations. This is because of its place beneath sea degree as dangerous UV rays are filtered via 3 herbal layers. These consist of a further atmospheric layer, an evaporation layer above the Dead Sea and a thick ozone layer. (Though we nevertheless advise carrying sunscreen!)

8. The Dead Sea changed into domestic to one of the maximum vital discoveries in contemporary-day archaeology. In 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls had been located in eleven caves close to the ruins of Qumran on its northwestern shore. These historic manuscripts date from round 250 BC to sixty eight AD. They incorporate Biblical prayers and texts which have been key to our expertise of the beginnings of Christianity. Although the scrolls at the moment are on the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, you could go to in which they had been located.

9. An uncommon characteristic of the Dead Sea is that it spits up small pebbles and blocks of asphalt from deep seeps to its floor. Ancient Egyptians used to import this to apply of their mummification processes.

10. Whilst the Dead Sea is one in all Israel’s maximum famous visitor destinations, it’s disappearing at an alarming rate. Its floor degree is losing through a couple of metre each yr and it’s best 1/2 of the duration it changed into only a century ago. This is because of water being diverted from the River Jordan and extracted from the Dead Sea for traits nearby. However, Israel and Jordan signed an settlement in 2015 to invest $nine million to stabilize the water degree. So there’s genuinely a few wish for this herbal wonder. The majority of our Israel and Jordan excursions go to the Dead Sea. You can defy physics through floating on its floor and enhance your pores and skin with a healing dust bath! Why now no longer come and be a part of us?