The Dead Sea is a salt lake between Israel and Jordan with a 33.7% salinity - about ten times the Mediterranean Sea. The primary tributary is the Jordan River. The northern watershed averages 4 inches of rain a year, with the southern watershed only 2 inches a year. The shoreline is the lowest dry point in the world, 1352 feet below sea level. In 1930 it was 1280 feet below seal level.
It was named the Dead Sea because the early Christian Monks believed there was no life discovered in the lake. More modern analysis has discovered 11 types of bacteria in the water. (Earlier it had been called the Sea of Sodom - the city of ill repute in the Bible.) The Arabs call it Bahr Lut - the Sea of Lot. (Recall his wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of Salt.)
Is the Dead Sea dying tells that water levels are dropping at alarming rates. Researchers explain overuse of the lake and the Jordan are responsible instead of global warming. Dead Sea is drying up alarmingly tells that the receding water levels have damaged hotels because freshwater running into the lake has eaten into the salt-based rock formations causing them to collapse. Scientists give one bright spot - eventually the salinity will be so high there will be no evaporation.
Dead Sea canal explains that Israel has plans for either refilling the Dead Sea from the Mediterranean Sea or the Red Sea. Since there is a 1352 feet difference in water levels, the canal could also generate hydroelectric power. Wiki suggests there may be a chemical incompatibility between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. The Dead Sea is dying tells that costs for the canal could be $3B to $5B. It also adds that the water has retreated 160 feet from the original Beach at Ein Gedi.
thaxs this was usefull :)
Posted by: cody | March 08, 2011 at 03:53 PM