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Topics. Dead Sea, landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan in southwestern Asia. It has the lowest elevation and is the lowest body of water on the surface of Earth. Learn more about the Dead Sea, including its physical features and environmental concerns.
- Overview
- Physiography and geology
The Dead Sea is a landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan in southwestern Asia.
Is there any life in the Dead Sea?
The Dead Sea's extreme salinity excludes all forms of life except bacteria. Fish carried in by the Jordan or by smaller streams when in flood die quickly. Apart from the vegetation along the rivers, plant life along the shores is discontinuous and consists mainly of halophytes (plants that grow in salty or alkaline soil).
Where does the Dead Sea get its water from?
The Dead Sea receives nearly all its water from the Jordan River, which flows from the north into the lake.
Why are bathers so buoyant in the Dead Sea?
The Dead Sea is situated between the hills of Judaea to the west and the Transjordanian plateaus to the east. Before the water level began dropping, the lake was some 50 miles (80 km) long, attained a maximum width of 11 miles (18 km), and had a surface area of about 394 square miles (1,020 square km). The peninsula of Al-Lisān (Arabic: “The Tongue”) divided the lake on its eastern side into two unequal basins: the northern basin encompassed about three-fourths of the lake’s total surface area and reached a depth of 1,300 feet (400 metres), and the southern basin was smaller and considerably shallower, less than 10 feet (3 metres) deep on average. During biblical times and until the 8th century ce, only the area around the northern basin was inhabited, and the lake was slightly lower than its present-day level. It rose to its highest level, 1,275 feet (389 metres) below sea level, in 1896 but receded again after 1935, stabilizing at about 1,300 feet (400 metres) below sea level for several decades.
The drop in the lake level in the late 20th and early 21st centuries changed the physical appearance of the Dead Sea. Most noticeably, the peninsula of Al-Lisān gradually extended eastward, until the lake’s northern and southern basins became separated by a strip of dry land. In addition, the southern basin was eventually subdivided into dozens of large evaporation pools (for the extraction of salt), so by the 21st century it had essentially ceased to be a natural body of water. The northern basin—effectively now the actual Dead Sea—largely retained its overall dimensions despite its great loss of water, mainly because its shoreline plunged downward so steeply from the surrounding landscape.
Britannica Quiz
International Waters
The Dead Sea region occupies part of a graben (a downfaulted block of Earth’s crust) between transform faults along a tectonic plate boundary that runs northward from the Red Sea–Gulf of Suez spreading centre to a convergent plate boundary in the Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey. The eastern fault, along the edge of the Moab Plateau, is more readily visible from the lake than is the western fault, which marks the gentler Judaean upfold.
In the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (about 201 million to 66 million years ago), before the creation of the graben, an extended Mediterranean Sea covered Syria and Palestine. During the Miocene Epoch (23 million to 5.3 million years ago), as the Arabian Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate to the north, upheaval of the seabed produced the upfolded structures of the Transjordanian highlands and the central range of Palestine, causing the fractures that allowed the Dead Sea graben to drop. At that time the Dead Sea was probably about the size that it is today. During the Pleistocene Epoch (2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago), it rose to an elevation of about 700 feet (200 metres) above its modern level, forming a vast inland sea that stretched some 200 miles (320 km) from the H̱ula Valley area in the north to 40 miles (64 km) beyond its present southern limits. The Dead Sea did not spill over into the Gulf of Aqaba because it was blocked by a 100-foot (30-metre) rise in the highest part of Wadi Al-ʿArabah, a seasonal watercourse that flows in a valley to the east of the central Negev highlands.
The Dead Sea is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) long and 10 miles (16 kilometers) wide. Its surface is 1,312 feet (400 meters) below sea level, making it the lowest body of water on Earth. Its greatest depth is in the north, where it is about 1,309 feet (399 meters) deep. The Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea from the north.
Oct 1, 2024 · The Dead Sea's climate offers year-round sunny skies and dry air. It has less than 50 millimetres (2 in) mean annual rainfall and a summer average temperature between 32 and 39 °C (90 and 102 °F). Winter average temperatures range between 20 and 23 °C (68 and 73 °F).
The Dead Sea, Jordan/Israel. Modified date: 11/06/2024. The Dead Sea is a unique and captivating natural wonder located in the Middle East, bordered by Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. It is a saltwater lake renowned for its exceptionally high salt and mineral content, making it one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world.
Dead Sea. Between Israel and Jordan lies the Dead Sea, a salt lake located on the lowest point of Earth’s surface. Its basin lies some 1,300 feet (400 meters) below sea level, making it the lowest body of water in the world. The lake is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) long and 11 miles (18 kilometers) wide. Its surface area is about 394 square ...
People also ask
What are some interesting facts about the Dead Sea?
How deep is the Dead Sea?
Does the Dead Sea contain microbes?
Where does the Dead Sea get its water from?
Is the Dead Sea a salty water?
Which river feeds the Dead Sea?
Feb 6, 2020 · 2. The Dead Sea is located at the lowest point on Earth. The surface of the Dead Sea is 1300 to 1400 feet below sea level (for comparison, Death Valley, the lowest point in North America, is 282 ...
