Dead sea, ISRAEL

The Dead Sea, the Dead Sea, is the Dead Sea salt lake located in the area of ​​the Syrian-African rift, with the border crossing between Israel and Jordan at its center. The concentration of salts in the Dead Sea is 34.2% - ten times higher than the concentration of salts in the Mediterranean Sea. This high concentration is due to the fact that the lake is terminal (the lake has no outlet for any place) and is located in an area with a hot desert climate characterized by high evaporation rates. The lake is the fourth largest water body in the world. Its beaches are the lowest continental place in the world [2] (this title became one of the names of the Dead Sea). Since the second half of the twentieth century, the level of the lake has been steadily declining, mainly due to the widespread use of water sources, the most important of which is the Jordan River, and the pumping of water for evaporation in ponds in the southern basin. The Dead Sea basin consists of two basins, southern and northern. Due to the continuous decline in the level, the southern part of the lake, which was much shallower than the northern one, dried up (the bottom of the southern part was at a height of 401 meters below sea level). The average depth of its northern part is about 200 meters and its bottom is at an average elevation of 730 below sea level. With the drying of the southern basin, pools were built to evaporate the water and produce potash and other chemicals by the potash plants in Israel and the Jordanian Arab Potash Company. These pools require extensive pumping of the lake water. Pumping the water into the ponds is a major reason for the decline of the water level [3]. The annual rate of decline of the sea level in the last decade is slightly more than one meter per year. In 2012 the rate increased to about 1.40 meters [4]. The decline in the level caused a significant change in the boundaries of the lake, and as a result, its area decreased by about 35%. The width of the sea in the northern basin of the Dead Sea at the maximum point is 18 kilometers, its length is about 51 kilometers and its area in 2010 was 650 square kilometers. The decline in the accumulated level causes major changes in the sea basin, including: irreversible changes in the water body in the northern basin, the creation of sinkholes, the withdrawal of beaches, damage to infrastructure (roads and bridges) and nature reserves. The Dead Sea is of great importance to industry and tourism. The composition of its water is different from that of ordinary seawater, and contains a high concentration of magnesium, calcium and potassium. This fact is exploited by the chemical industry in the territories of Israel and Jordan, among other things for the production of potash, magnesium and bromine compounds. The historical importance of nearby sites, such as Masada, Ein Gedi, Kefar and Qumran, the special chemical composition of its water and its special climate, has made the Dead Sea a global tourist destination, especially the center of medical tourism. Thousands of hotel rooms have been built in the region, located in the northeastern corner of the lake, and in Israel in Ein Bokek, on the shores of the pools in the southern basin. The source of the name of the Dead Sea is in the Bible [6], where it is sometimes mentioned in the names of the day of Araba [7] and the ancient sea