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The Dead Sea

The Dead sea is a salt lake between Israel and the West Bank to the west, and Jordan to the east. Its shores are the lowest point on the surface of the Earth. 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 percent salinity.

The Dead Sea, a unique geologic phenomenon is part of the Syrian-African Rift. The Dead Sea is the terminal lake of River Jordan System. The Dead Sea is a large strike ship basin (110 km long and 16 km wide) located within the Dead Sea transform between distinct higher in elevation. The Dead Sea comprises 2 basins; the northern basin is the deepest (-713 B.S.L) whereas the southern basin is very shallow.

The Dead Sea Rift is part of the Syrian-African Rift extending from Turkey in the north to the eastern African rift in the south. The extensive tectonic activity of the Dead Sea Rift in the southern Wadi Araba, since early Miocene (27 Ma years ago), resulted in a very clear landscape expressions; a rift valley bounded by distinct high mountains.

The Dead Sea occupies the lowest part of the Rift Valley and located within the Dead Sea Transform. The Dead Sea Transform is a plate boundary separating the Arabian plate from the African plate and connects the divergent plate boundary in the Red Sea to the convergent plate boundary in the Red Sea to the convergent plate boundary in the Taurus Mountains in southern Turkey.

The bed rocks on either side of the Dead Sea Rift were connected prior to rifting. As a result of rifting, the bed rocks on either side of the Dead Sea Rift were exposed; the eastern side the rift was uplifted more therefore the older rocks were exposed near the eastern shore. The eastern part of the rift is characterized by the present of intensive faults, volcanic and thermal springs.