In July 2001, just a couple of months prior to the September 11th Terror attacks I booked a trip to Israel. On the 5th day I stood atop of historic Massada looking down on the Dead Sea. It was a beautiful blue color ringed by a stark whiteness as far as the eye could see.
The Dead Sea
Model of Massada, on top of Massada, one of the abodes of none other than King Herod
The Dead Sea is the lowest point of earth, lying 1,290-feet below sea level and located between the Judean Hills and the Hills of Moab. It is 48 miles long by 11 miles at the widest point and is fed by the Jordan River.
View of the Dead Sea out of a the ruins at Masada
The Dead Sea consists of 30 percent sodium, magnesium, calcium and other salts. It has the highest mineral content of any body of water in the world and only minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi can survive its salinity. It interesting to note that due to the high salt content an individual finds it impossible to sink.
You just can’t make your self sink, it’s just too salty
Around three million years ago what is now the valley of the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and Wadi Arabah was repeatedly inundated by waters from the Red Sea.
image Source and Geologic Excerpts
These waters formed in a narrow, crooked bay which was connected to the sea through what is now the Jezreel Valley. The floods of the valley came and went. The lake that occupied the Dead Sea Rift, Lake Sodom, deposited beds of salt, eventually becoming two miles thick.
According to one geological theory, approximately two million years ago the land between the Rift Valley and the Mediterranean rose to such an extent that the ocean could no longer flood the area. Thus, the long body of water became a lake.
The first such prehistoric lake is named "Lake Gomorrah." It was a freshwater or brackish lake that extended at least 50 miles south of the current southern end of the Dead Sea and 60 miles north, well above the present Hula Depression. As the climate turned more arid, Lake Gomorrah shrank and became saltier. The large, saltwater predecessor of the Dead Sea is called "Lake Lisan."
In prehistoric times great amounts of sediment collected on the floor of Lake Gomorrah. The sediment was heavier than the salt deposits and squeezed the salt deposits upwards. Geologists explain the effect in terms of a bucket of mud into which a large flat stone is placed, forcing the mud to creep up the sides of the pail. When the floor of the Dead Sea dropped further due to tectonic forces, the salt mounts stayed in place as high cliffs.
So there you have it, how the Dead Sea in Israel became the lowest and saltiest place on earth.
Proof of my trip, airline boarding pass stubs and El AL Menu
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