The cause of the Dead Sea is more salty than the ocean

The Dead Sea lies in a low desert, with a faster evaporation rate than water in the ocean, making the lake saltier than seawater because of its higher salt concentration.

The Dead Sea is an inland lake , bordering Jordan, Israel and Palestine, according to Live Science. It is recognized as one of the highest saline reservoirs in the world.

No species of fish, birds or plants survive in high salinity environments in the Dead Sea. The water here has nearly 10 times the salinity of normal seawater.

Salt on Earth

The ocean on Earth contains about 3.5% of its salt content, according to the US Marine and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This salt is derived from rock on land. Acid in rainwater breaks down rocks, captures ions in rocks and brings them to the sea. Most of these ions are sodium and chlorine, two ions that combine to form salt in the ocean.

If salt is removed from the water, we will collect about 50 million tons of salt, forming a 153-meter-thick salt covering the Earth, equivalent to the height of the 40-story building.

Salt accumulates in mountains around the Dead Sea.(Photo: Shutterstock).

Salt in the Dead Sea

NOAA estimates, the Dead Sea lake water has a salinity of 5-9 times seawater. Seawater salinity depends on depth. At a depth of 100 meters above the sea surface, the water is saturated with salt and cannot dissolve further, making salt accumulate in the seabed.

The Dead Sea lies in a valley stretching over 1,000km, starting from the Sinai Peninsula and extending north to Turkey. The region is the lowest in the Earth, 429 meters below sea level. A series of lakes appeared in this valley and disappeared 15,000 years ago, leaving only the Dead Sea, according to the Minerva Dead Sea Research Center (MDSRC).

Fresh water from the Jordan River is the only source flowing into the Dead Sea. However, here there is no channel or flow leading water from the lake to the ocean.Water accumulates in the Dead Sea and evaporates faster than the speed of seawater in the ocean, making the Dead Sea salt concentration higher than the sea, explains MDSRC.

Dead Sea is about to die

In recent years, the exploitation of water from the Jordan River for human agricultural irrigation has led to the loss of precious water supplementing the Dead Sea, making the water in the lake more salty.

In fact, the Dead Sea is slowly disappearing. Each year, the lake level recedes about a meter, according to a study published in 2010 in the Journal of Environmental Economics. Researchers say the Dead Sea water has receded about 30 meters since the beginning of the 20th century.

Another study showed that even if people do not intervene, the Dead Sea is still in danger of disappearing. In 2010 and 2011, scientists drilled the lake bottom geological exploration. They discovered that about 120,000 years ago, the Dead Sea had completely dried up, leaving only salt on the surface.

It is not yet possible to confirm the future of the Dead Sea. Although there are many signs that the lake may disappear, in 2011, it continued to surprise the scientific community.

An unmanned scuba diving device for the first time explored in depths that have never been discovered and discovered, there is a stream of freshwater containing bacteria on the bottom of the Dead Sea. Scientists expect to discover more mysteries about this lake.