30 Facts about the Dead Sea | Amazing Facts 4U
- The name, “Dead Sea” is actually gentle compared with its name in Hebrew – Yam ha Maved, which amazingly means, “Killer Sea”.
- The Dead Sea is believed to be about 3 million years old.
- It is believed that the lake was first spotted by Herod the Great (73 to 4 BC), the Roman King of Judea. Cleopatra is also believed to have promoted the goodness of the Dead Seawater.
- The fact is the Dead Sea isn’t actually a sea at all! The Dead Sea is a saltwater lake. Water flows into the Dead Sea from streams and rivers but does not flow out.
- The Dead Sea is located at the deepest point in the Great Rift Valley, which extends from Syria to Mozambique. The Great Rift Valley is the world’s longest geographic phenomenon about 6,400 km (4000 miles), crossing through 20 countries.
- The Dead Sea is 67 kilometres (42 miles) long and 18 kilometres (11 miles) wide at its widest point. Its main tributary is the Jordan River.
- The Dead Sea has Jordan bordering to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west.
- The Dead Sea is 377 m (1,237 ft) deep, making it the deepest hypersaline landlocked lake in the world.
- The Dead Sea is split into two parts: the northern part of the Dead Sea is geared towards tourism and the health benefits available from the rich deposits of salt, while the southern part of the Dead Sea is largely based around the industrial usage of salts. The huge Dead Sea Works complex is at the southern end.
- Cleopatra loved the Dead Sea so much, she ordered that cosmetic factories and resorts be built along its shores.
- The concentration of salts and minerals in the Dead Sea is caused by the inflow of freshwater, no out-flow, and evaporation, which causes the salts to get concentrated in the water.
- The concentration of Dead Sea salt, or the salinity, is about 8 times normal ocean saltiness (Amazing 33% salt and minerals). It is the second saltiest body of water in the world after Lake Assal in Djibouti, Africa.
- Amazingly because of salinity the water is much denser than normal sea-water and also denser than our body. One just floats here and can’t get drowned.
- The Dead Sea is filled with minerals including calcium, iodine, saline, potassium, and bromide.
- Amazingly the Dead Sea spits out asphalt almost constantly which occasionally rises to the surface. Asphalt used in ancient Egypt for mummification was imported from the Dead Sea.
- Egyptian mummification processes used asphalt and balm and mud imported from the Dead Sea region.
- There is no marine life in the Dead Sea. The high mineral and salt content of the waters make it impossible for fish or even small creatures and plants to live. Fish that end up in the Dead Sea from the Jordan River can’t survive and die quickly, hence the name dead sea. However, We can find clusters of bacteria, algae or fungi in some parts of the dead sea.
- Potassium, manufactured from the Dead Sea, is the chief fertilizer enabling agricultural growth in many countries.
- The date palm is one of the oldest crops in the Dead Sea region. The region contains some 250 hectares (618 acres) of date palms.
- The surface and shores of the Dead Sea are amazing 423 metres (1,388 ft) below sea level, making it Earth’s lowest elevation on land.
- You can’t swim in the dead sea as you’ll be too buoyant but you amazingly float. Hypersalinated water makes your skin feel amazing, soft, refreshed, and moisturised for up to a couple of weeks afterwards.
- The amazing fact is that a person can drown in the Dead Sea. The high density of water makes any kind of movement extremely difficult. As long as you float on the Dead Sea on your back facing the sky, you are safe. If accidentally, you flip and your back faces the sky face down in the water, you could be in trouble. You have to quickly get back to face facing the sky position. Doing this could be difficult for inexperienced swimmers and then your face will dip in water and you might inhale deadly salty water which might cause electrolyte imbalances which could be fatal. So essentially you will drown but you will not sink!
- One of the most amazing road journeys is from Jerusalem to the dead sea via the world’s lowest road, Highway 90 for 20 miles descending 4000 feet to reach it. The scenery is spectacularly dry, arid and beautiful with stunning sedimentary rocks on either side of the road. The rock planes are often quite twisted, showing the amazing force which generated the rocks.
- The amazing fact is that in 1947 a Bedouin shepherd discovered some of the oldest copies of books of the Bible in a cave above the Dead Sea. These 2,100-year-old manuscripts are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
- There are a number of beaches and access points to the Dead Sea on the Israeli side, where you can rest on the beach or cover yourself with Dead Sea mud.
- The two famous places are the Ein Gedi spa and Mineral Beach. The beaches are rocky and salty. At Mineral Beach, there are sinkholes near the sea with the mud of different viscosity and temperature, and at Ein Gedi, they have scooped mud up and put it in large containers.
- After covering your whole body in mud, you then get to stand around on the beach for about 10 to 15 minutes while the mud dries. Once the mud is dry, you head for the sea.
- You can also exfoliate with Dead sea salt. The mud contains salt granules and if you massage your skin gently, it exfoliates.
- The amazing fact is that the unique salt in the Dead Sea is said to cure acne, psoriasis, hives, cellulite, dry skin, dandruff, stress, muscle aches.
- Amazingly both Ein Gedi and the Mineral Beach also have hot-water sulphur pools, with the water in them coming not from the Dead Sea, but from mineral-rich springs which feed into the sea. These are wonderful experience after the Dead Sea itself.
Find more nuggets of wisdom on our website: www.informativequotes.com
