The Dead Sea is located in one of the deepest parts of the Jordan Basin. As a matter of fact, here is the lowest place on our planet, it is at an altitude of four hundred meters BELOW sea level.
The length of Dead Weed is more than seventy kilometers, the width is about seventeen kilometers.
The researchers suggest that in ancient times (about several tens of millions of years ago) a strong fracture of the earth's crust could have occurred in this area, due to which a depression was formed, which began to quickly fill with water.
It was then that the ancient ocean appeared, which modern researchers call Tethys. It is believed that in the past, the entire territory of the State of Israel was flooded with its waters several times, after which the water began to leave and mountains and plateaus began to form in its place.
When the water level dropped very much, several lakes formed on this territory, which were separated from each other by many boulders.
In this situation, they served as natural dams. This is how Lake Hula, Lake Kinneret (the famous "Sea of Gallilee") and the modern Dead Sea appeared.
At the moment it is part of the Syrian-Arican rift. All these lakes are connected by the waters of the Jordan River.
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Now a little more about the Dead Sea. In fact, it is a lake with very salty water, the concentration of salt is the highest in the world.
This is a unique natural phenomenon on our planet you will not find anything like it again. True, there was a case of an increase in salt concentration when the single Aral Sea dries up, but Soviet engineers were involved in this. The ill-conceived system of irrigation of local cotton plants caused a global ecological disaster.
So, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on land, its level is 412 meters below the same Mediterranean Sea.
Researchers believe that the formation of the Dead Sea is directly related to a very ancient drift of continents (in other words, the movement of lithospheric plates).
The Dead Sea is located in a depression, which was formed as a result of powerful tectonic activity. It is believed that at that time there was a separation of the continents of Eurasia and Africa, a single continent split.
On this territory, the Syrian-African fault was formed, along which the African and Arabian lithospheric plates have been sliding for the last ten million years.
This sliding occurs and nowadays there are a lot of tremors here. It is believed that at that time almost the entire hearth left this territory, as a result of which the Lachon Bay was formed.
And about 3-4 million years ago, a powerful eruption of local volcanoes happened, as a result of which the connection of this bay with the Mediterranean Sea was severed, the bay began to dry out quickly, leaving behind many salt marshes (salt never evaporates).
So, when this bay dried up, then after it there was a huge trail of salt, the depth of which simply amazes about two thousand meters.
It is on this territory that the modern Dead Sea originated. It was about 20-40 thousand years ago. Initially, fresh water came here, which became salty due to the huge amount of salt remaining in the soil.
Nowadays, the Dead Sea replenishes its water supplies from the Jordan River, as well as thanks to several other freshwater sources. I repeat, it is salty only because it is on a huge pillow of salt.
This sea has no drain, only tributaries. Therefore, water leaves here due to evaporation, which is very active, the climate here is very hot and harsh.
There is another explanation of the origin of the Dead Sea, you can find it on the pages of the best-selling book in the world of the Bible. It says that in ancient times on these lands there were two cities, the famous Sodom and Gomorrah.
And the locals sinned very much, as a result of which God decided to teach them a lesson. However, for some reason, he decided not to destroy these cities as long as at least one righteous person lived on their territory.
And such a man at that time was his name was Lot. The Lord informed him of the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, warning him that he needed to leave the city limits and in no case look back.
But Lot's wife did not listen to God, she, out of curiosity, decided to look back, for which she paid and immediately turned into a pillar of salt, which can be found and in our time it is located not far from the city of Sedom.
And God turned these sinful cities into a salty liquid. So, according to the authors of the Bible, the modern Dead Sea arose. The sea is just wildly salty, it is impossible to drown in it, but it is easy to get poisoned, so it is highly discouraged to swallow local water.
