The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea, also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east, and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are 422 metres below sea level, is the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface on dry land.

The Dead Sea is 378 m deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. It is also one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, with 33.7% salinity.which makes for a harsh environment where animals cannot flourish, hence its name.

The Dead Sea is 67 kilometres long and 18 kilometres wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets.

The sea has a density of 1.24kg/L, making swimming difficult.

Instructions for swimming in the Dead Sea
Jordan
19 Dec 08

Salt deposites in the Dead Sea
Jordan
19 Dec 2008

Adrian gets ready to face the Dead Sea
Jordan
19 Dec 2008