Background

The Dead Sea is one of the most saline lakes in the world. It lies between the hills of Judaea to the west and the Transjordanian plateaus to the east. The Jordan River flows from the north into the Dead Sea. Many years ago, heavy stream flow into the lake deposited thick sediments containing shale, clay, sandstone, rock salt, and gypsum.

After this, strata of clay, marl, soft chalk, and gypsum fell upon layers of sands and gravel. Having no outlet, the Dead Sea is a “terminal lake” which loses huge amounts of water by evaporation in the hot dry air. The water has evaporated faster than it has been replenished by precipitation over the last 3 to 4 thousand years, which has resulted in the lake gradually shrinking to its present form. Because of this, bare deposits cover the Dead Sea valley to a thickness of 1 to 4 miles (1.6 to 6.4 Km). This water evaporation has also resulted in high concentrations of salts and minerals in a unique composition that is particularly rich in calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, bromide, and various other minor anions such as, e.g., sulfate.