The Dead Sea Facts - The Lowest Point of Earth

The Dead Sea or Sea of Salt as it is also called, is a huge salt lake that can be found between the West Bank and Israel to the west, and Jordan to the east. It is 1,378 ft below sea level, the shores of the Dead Sea are the lowest point or surface of the earth that is on dry land.

This is also the deepest hyper saline lake in the world, and it is the world's second saltiest body of water.

It can be found in the Dead Sea Rift, which is a part of a great fissure in the Earth's surface that is called the Great Rift Valley. This valley is 6,000 km long and starts in the Taurus Mountains in Turkey and goes all the way to the Zambezi Valley in Southern Africa.

There is only one major source of water that flows into the Dead Sea and that is the Jordan River. When it rains, the northern end of the lake gets about 4 inches per year while the southern end gets only two. It is said that the highlands to the east of this sea get more rain than the sea itself.

The climate around the Dead Sea is one that would appeal to many people. There are sunny skies all yearlong and the air is very dry and relatively pollution free. The winter is cool and the whole region gets very little ultraviolet radiation.

In addition, the oxygen levels are also high, something that many people would find appealing. There are even several types of therapies that you could get because of the healthiness of the region, using the sun's radiation, the atmospheric conditions, and even from the water from the sea.

It is called Dead Sea, because the salt content in the water is so high that creatures find it impossible to live in it, except for some microbial fungi. However, there was a time when the sea did temporarily come to life; when a lot of rainfall resulted in the salinity levels to decrease, thereby giving rise to increased life form.

This resulted in the water changing its color to red. Upon being studied, they found out that it was a type of algae that could live in the water. However, it did not last very long and since that incident in 1980, the phenomenon has not happened again.

Even though there are no animals that make their home in the waters of the Dead Sea, there are many types of creatures that live in the surrounding mountains. For the person that likes to hike, there are camels, ibex, jackals, fox, and even leopards to be seen.

Not to mention the fact that hundreds of bird species call it their home. The area around the Dead Sea is one big nature reserve because both Israel and Jordan have set the surrounding land aside for the preservation of their native species.

One interesting fact about the region's past is that, this is the spot where Jericho prospered; evidently the area was the most fertile spot in all of Judea, with papyrus and palm trees making a literal jungle of the area.

During Roman times, there was sugarcane and even perfume was made from the sap of the balsam tree. Unfortunately the fertility in the land is long past. But things have moved on, and the Dead Sea is waiting for the people who are curios to find out what it is like at the lowest point on earth.