Dead Sea

The lowest point on land — water you can't sink in

You can't sink in the Dead Sea — the water is so salty that a person floats like a cork and can even read a newspaper! It's 10 times saltier than a normal sea, so no fish live there — hence the name. It's the lowest place on land — 430 metres below ocean level. Sadly, the sea is shrinking by a metre a year.

The Dead Sea is a salt lake between Jordan, Israel and Palestine, its surface 430 m below ocean level — the lowest point on land; it is 300 m deep. Its salinity is 34% (the ocean's is 3.5%) and its water density 1.24 g/cm³, which keeps the body afloat. There are no fish or plants, only salt-loving archaea. Because Jordan River water is taken for irrigation and minerals are extracted, the level drops 1 m a year; the area has shrunk 40% since 1930 and thousands of sinkholes have opened on its shores. A project to bring water from the Red Sea is under discussion. Its mud and minerals (magnesium, bromine) are used for therapy; the air has 10% more oxygen and weaker UV. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the Qumran caves (1947).

Fun facts

• You can lie in the Dead Sea and read a newspaper — the water holds you up.
• It's 430 m below the ocean — the 'deepest' dry land on Earth.
• The sea shrinks a metre a year — the shore is collapsing into sinkholes.