Where is the Dead Sea?
The Dead Sea is a 750 square kilometer body of water located on the borders of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian West Bank.
The Dead Sea is the lowest place on Earth. The lake is about 400 m below sea level and about 400 meters deep.
Why is the Dead Sea so salty?
The salt in the Dead Sea is carried by the Jordan River which flows into the sea. Although the water in the river is fresh water, it nevertheless contains a small amount of salt.
Since the Dead Sea has no drainage but only loses water through evaporation, the salt accumulates little by little. The water that evaporates is almost pure water and leaves the salt behind in the ocean.
The reason salt is found in the Jordan River is found in erosion.
Weathering is a chemical process that breaks down rocks and produces solutes in the form of ions, such as Na+ (sodium) and Cl- (chlorine), which together form table salt.
The chemical process that makes the Dead Sea salty is the same that has kept the world’s oceans salty for the 4.5 billion years that have passed since the Earth was formed.
There is also no drainage from them, but due to the small size of the Dead Sea, as well as the warm and dry climate, the process goes much faster there.
The salinity of the Dead Sea is about 33.7 percent, but the salinity of the oceans is only 3.9 percent on average.
Since there is no drainage from the Dead Sea, it should be assumed that the sea eventually overflowed its banks, but this does not happen because the climate in the Jordan Valley is so dry and warm that usually the same amount of water evaporates as flows into the sea.
Does water accept salt indefinitely?
This process that leads to the accumulation of more and more salt is called evaporation. When the percentage of salt reaches a certain value, the water reaches a point where it cannot accept more salt and the water becomes saturated.
However, if evaporation continues beyond this point, salt deposits begin to form.
If all the water disappears, a “harvest” is obtained in the form of salt crystals. In the case of pure sodium chloride, table salt, it can be used in the food industry, but otherwise in the chemical industry.
How much salt is in the Dead Sea?
The salt concentration in the Dead Sea is 33.7 percent, but in the sea it is only 3.9 percent on average.
The high percentage of salt in the water makes it easy to float and impossible for a person to sink to the bottom.
Except for rare microbes, the water in the Dead Sea is lifeless. These rare microorganisms are mainly used for treatment and the production of products that can help against skin diseases such as acne, eczema and psoriasis.
