The Disappearance of the Dead Sea

The deterioration of the Dead Sea has been observed and known for decades,The Dead Sea is currently 430 meters below sea level. Since Israel’s founding in 1948, the sea level has fallen by 40 meters,The sinkholes around the Dead Sea can be up to 24 meters deep, though most are much shallower.At 1,407 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest place on the surface of the planet and, though its name suggests something more massive, is little more than a lake at the mouth of the Jordan River. Only microbial life can survive its saline waters, which are ten times saltier than the oceans.Sinkholes, , started appearing in this region in the 1980s, the result of underground fresh water coming into contact with the old subterranean salt layer, depositing there for thousands of years. The freshwater washes the salt away, creating an underground void into which the surface collapses. Scientists don’t know when, and sometimes even where, a sinkhole may swallow the next patch of land. It is one of the most beautiful but yet one of the most dangerous places on Earth.