Saltiest Sea

Where is the world’s Saltiest sea?

The Dead Sea is in south-west Asia and is a really big lake . Its northern half belongs to Jordan and its southern half is divided between Jordan and Israel.

It covers an area of 394 square miles and contains about 11,600,000,000 tons of salt. The River Jordan , which contains only 35 parts of salt to 100,000 parts of water, flows into the Dead Sea and each year adds 850,000 tons of salt to the total.

The lake’s surface level lies 1,302 feet below the Mediterranean and is the lowest sheet of water on earth. In summer the absence of rain and the high rate of evaporation cause the water level to drop between 10 and 15 feet below that in winter. There is no outlet from the Dead Sea, but water balance is maintained by evaporation.. Blue-white clouds, which form a mist over the surface of the water, carry of the vaporated moisture.

The Dead Sea is mentioned many times in the Bible. It gave its name to the Dead Sea Scrolls, groups of leather manuscripts and papyri first discovered in 1947 in caves on the lake shore. These scrolls date from the time immediately before and contemporary with the rise of Christianity. (No modern cities are to be found on its shore and no traces remain of the five cities said to have been near it in Abraham’s time – Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar.)

Despite the lack of hotels, tourists come to the area because of the warm climate, the sense of history and the magnificent and awe-inspiring scenery. The climax of a trip is a swim in the lake, for the water is so full of salt that it is extremely difficult to sink in it.

The minerals and salts of the Dead Sea are being exploited for industry. But the lake itself is truly dead; no fish are able to live in it.