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8. The Dead Sea: A Hypersaline Wonder
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Among the most amazing bodies of water on Earth, the Dead Sea spans Israel's border with Jordan. For millennia human imagination has been enthralled by this fabled lake, known for its unusual qualities and great salinity. Along the Jordan Rift Valley, stretching 31 miles (50 km), the Dead Sea is not only a geological wonder but also evidence of the variety and sometimes hostile conditions our planet can create.
The Dead Sea's hypersalinity is the most arresting quality. It is almost ten times saltier than the typical ocean with a salt content ranging from 34% in some regions. The lake gets its sinister moniker from this great salinity since it makes the surroundings so hostile that most kinds of life cannot survive. Still, the idea that the Dead Sea is utterly dead is a myth. Although no fish or obvious vegetation may live in its waters, the lake hosts a range of salt-loving microbes, mostly bacteria and archaea. These extremophiles provide scientists with important new perspectives on the boundaries of life and the possibility for living in hostile circumstances, both on Earth and maybe on other worlds as they have evolved to flourish in conditions that would be fatal for most other animals.
The Dead Sea's great salt concentration also produces its most well-known feature: remarkable buoyancy. Because of its dissolved mineral content, the water's density—about 1.24 kg/L—much exceeds that of fresh water (1.00 kg/L) or even ordinary sea water (1.03 kg/L). Swimmers almost cannot sink because to this higher density, which gives the famous picture of individuals freely floating on the surface—often reading newspapers or books while doing so. The Dead Sea's special quality has made it a well-liked tourist destination drawing people from all around who come to feel the novelty of floating without effort.
Geographically, the Dead Sea is another amazing anomaly since it is the lowest land elevation on Earth. With its surface around 1,420 feet (433 meters) below sea level, the lake's beaches are the lowest exposed ground on Earth. The site of the lake in the Jordan Rift Valley, a tectonic plate border where the African Plate and the Arabian Plate are separating, causes this severe dip. Apart from the low elevation of the lake, the particular geological context affects its temperature, therefore fostering a heated, dry atmosphere that increases mineral concentration and water evaporation even more.
Still, the Dead Sea suffers major environmental problems. The lake's surface level has been declining alarmingly rapidly, almost three feet (1 metre) annually starting in 2010. The main causes of this fast drop are human activities like mineral extraction operations and the diversion of water from the Jordan River—the main source of Dead Sea—for both agricultural and domestic use. Numerous environmental problems resulting from the Dead Sea's decreasing have included sinkhole development along its coast, which endanger nearby infrastructure and tourism. Though they come with their own set of environmental and geopolitical complexity, initiatives to solve this issue—like the proposed Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance project—are being investigation.
