Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana

 

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

 

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

 

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea

   

The Dead Sea (Arabic: البحر الميت‎ al-Baḥr al-Mayyit (help•info),[3] Hebrew: יָם הַ‏‏מֶּ‏‏לַ‏ח‎‎, Yām HamMélaḥ, "Sea of Salt", also Hebrew: יָם הַ‏‏מָּוֶת‎‎, Yām HamMā́weṯ, "The Sea of Death"), also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are 423 metres (1,388 ft) below sea level,[2] Earth's lowest elevation on land. The Dead Sea is 377 m (1,237 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 33.7% salinity, it is also one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, though Lake Assal (Djibouti), Garabogazköl and some hypersaline lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond) have reported higher salinities. It is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean.[4] This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 67 kilometres (42 mi) long and 18 kilometres (11 mi) wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets. In 2009, 1.2 million foreign tourists visited on the Israeli side.[citation needed]

The sea has a density of 1.24 kg/L,[citation needed] which makes swimming similar to floating.[5]

   

Etymology and toponymy

In Hebrew, the Dead Sea is Yām ha-Melaḥ (help•info), meaning "sea of salt" (Genesis 14:3). In prose sometimes the term Yām ha-Māvet (ים המוות, "sea of death") is used, due to the scarcity of aquatic life there.[6] In Arabic the Dead Sea is called al-Bahr al-Mayyit (help•info)[3] ("the Dead Sea"), or less commonly baḥrᵘ lūṭᵃ (بحر لوط, "the Sea of Lot"). Another historic name in Arabic was the "Sea of Zoʼar", after a nearby town in biblical times. The Greeks called it Lake Asphaltites (Attic Greek ἡ Θάλαττα ἀσφαλτῖτης, hē Thálatta asphaltĩtēs, "the Asphaltite[7] sea"). The Bible also refers to it as Yām ha-Mizraḥî (ים המזרחי, "the Eastern sea") and Yām ha-‘Ărāvâ (ים הערבה, "Sea of the Arabah").

  

Geography

 

The Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform (DST). This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the tectonic plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the northern end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai.

The Jordan River is the only major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, creating pools and quicksand pits along the edges.[8] There are no outlet streams.

Rainfall is scarcely 100 mm (4 in) per year in the northern part of the Dead Sea and barely 50 mm (2 in) in the southern part. The Dead Sea zone's aridity is due to the rainshadow effect of the Judean Hills. The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself.

To the west of the Dead Sea, the Judean Hills rise less steeply and are much lower than the mountains to the east. Along the southwestern side of the lake is a 210 m (700 ft) tall halite formation called "Mount Sodom".

  

Natural history

There are two contending hypotheses about the origin of the low elevation of the Dead Sea. The older hypothesis is that it lies in a true rift zone, an extension of the Red Sea Rift, or even of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa. A more recent hypothesis is that the Dead Sea basin is a consequence of a "step-over" discontinuity along the Dead Sea Transform, creating an extension of the crust with consequent subsidence.

Around three million years ago,[citation needed] what is now the valley of the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and Wadi Arabah was repeatedly inundated by waters from the Mediterranean Sea. The waters formed in a narrow, crooked bay which was connected to the sea through what is now the Jezreel Valley. The floods of the valley came and went depending on long scale climate change. The lake that occupied the Dead Sea Rift, named "Lake Sedom",[9] deposited beds of salt that eventually became 3 km (2 mi) thick.

 

Approximately two million years ago,[citation needed] the land between the Rift Valley and the Mediterranean Sea rose to such an extent that the ocean could no longer flood the area. Thus, the long bay became a lake.

The first such prehistoric lake is named "Lake Amora"[9] Lake Amora was a freshwater or brackish lake that extended at least 80 km (50 mi) south of the current southern end of the Dead Sea and 100 km (60 mi) north, well above the present Hula Depression. As the climate became more arid, Lake Amora shrank and became saltier. The large, saltwater predecessor of the Dead Sea is called "Lake Lisan."[9]

In prehistoric times, great amounts of sediment collected on the floor of Lake Amora. The sediment was heavier than the salt deposits and squeezed the salt deposits upwards into what are now the Lisan Peninsula and Mount Sodom (on the southwest side of the lake). Geologists explain the effect in terms of a bucket of mud into which a large flat stone is placed, forcing the mud to creep up the sides of the pail. When the floor of the Dead Sea dropped further due to tectonic forces, the salt mounts of Lisan and Mount Sodom stayed in place as high cliffs. (see salt domes)

From 70,000 to 12,000 years ago, the lake level was 100 m (330 ft) to 250 m (820 ft) higher than its current level. This lake, called "Lake Lisan", fluctuated dramatically, rising to its highest level around 26,000 years ago, indicating a very wet climate in the Near East.[10] Around 10,000 years ago, the lake level dropped dramatically, probably to levels even lower than today. During the last several thousand years, the lake has fluctuated approximately 400 m (1,300 ft), with some significant drops and rises. Current theories as to the cause of this dramatic drop in levels rule out volcanic activity; therefore, it may have been a seismic event.

  

Climate

The Dead Sea's climate offers year-round sunny skies and dry air. It has less than 50 millimetres (2 in) mean annual rainfall and a summer average temperature between 32 and 39 °C (90 and 102 °F). Winter average temperatures range between 20 and 23 °C (68 and 73 °F). The region has weakened ultraviolet radiation, particularly the UVB (erythrogenic rays), and an atmosphere characterized by a high oxygen content due to the high barometric pressure.[11] The sea affects temperatures nearby because of the moderating effect a large body of water has on climate. During the winter, sea temperatures tend to be higher than land temperatures, and vice versa during the summer months. This is the result of the water's mass and specific heat capacity. On average, there are 192 days above 30C (86F) annually.[12]

  

Chemistry

 

Until the winter of 1978-79, when a major mixing event took place,[14] the Dead Sea was composed of two stratified layers of water that differed in temperature, density, age, and salinity. The topmost 35 metres (115 ft) or so of the Dead Sea had a salinity that ranged between 300 and 400 parts per thousand and a temperature that swung between 19 °C (66 °F) and 37 °C (99 °F). Underneath a zone of transition, the lowest level of the Dead Sea had waters of a consistent 22 °C (72 °F) temperature and complete saturation of sodium chloride (NaCl).[citation needed] Since the water near the bottom is saturated, the salt precipitates out of solution onto the sea floor.

Beginning in the 1960s, water inflow to the Dead Sea from the Jordan River was reduced as a result of large-scale irrigation and generally low rainfall. By 1975, the upper water layer was saltier than the lower layer. Nevertheless, the upper layer remained suspended above the lower layer because its waters were warmer and thus less dense. When the upper layer cooled so its density was greater than the lower layer, the waters mixed (1978–79). For the first time in centuries, the lake was a homogeneous body of water. Since then, stratification has begun to redevelop.[14]

The mineral content of the Dead Sea is very different from that of ocean water. The exact composition of the Dead Sea water varies mainly with season, depth and temperature. In the early 1980s, the concentration of ionic species (in g/kg) of Dead Sea surface water was Cl− (181.4), Br− (4.2), SO42− (0.4), HCO3− (0.2), Ca2+ (14.1), Na+ (32.5), K+ (6.2) and Mg2+ (35.2). The total salinity was 276 g/kg.[15] These results show that the composition of the salt, as anhydrous chlorides on a weight percentage basis, was calcium chloride (CaCl2) 14.4%, potassium chloride (KCl) 4.4%, magnesium chloride (MgCl2) 50.8% and sodium chloride (common salt, NaCl) 30.4%. In comparison, the salt in the water of most oceans and seas is approximately 97% sodium chloride. The concentration of sulfate ions (SO42−) is very low, and the concentration of bromide ions (Br−) is the highest of all waters on Earth. The sea itself is abundant in minerals acclaimed to have therapeutic value.[citation needed]

The salt concentration of the Dead Sea fluctuates around 31.5%. This is unusually high and results in a nominal density of 1.24 kg/l. Anyone can easily float in the Dead Sea because of natural buoyancy. In this respect the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah in the United States.

An unusual feature of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt. From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles and blocks of the black substance.[16] Asphalt coated figurines and bitumen coated Neolithic skulls from archaeological sites have been found. Egyptian mummification processes used asphalt imported from the Dead Sea region.

 

Health effects and therapies

The Dead Sea area has become a major center for health research and treatment for several reasons. The mineral content of the water, the very low content of pollens and other allergens in the atmosphere, the reduced ultraviolet component of solar radiation, and the higher atmospheric pressure at this great depth each have specific health effects. For example, persons suffering reduced respiratory function from diseases such as cystic fibrosis seem to benefit from the increased atmospheric pressure.[19]

The region's climate and low elevation have made it a popular center for several types of therapies:

•Climatotherapy: Treatment which exploits local climatic features such as temperature, humidity, sunshine, barometric pressure and special atmospheric constituents

•Heliotherapy: Treatment that exploits the biological effects of the sun's radiation

•Thalassotherapy: Treatment that exploits bathing in Dead Sea water

  

Treatment for psoriasis

Climatotherapy at the Dead Sea is an effective therapy for patients with the skin disorder psoriasis,[20] which also benefit from the ability to sunbathe for long periods in the area due to its position below sea level and subsequent result that many of the sun's harmful UV rays are reduced.[21]

  

Treatment for rhinosinusitis

Rhinosinusitis patients receiving Dead Sea saline nasal irrigation exhibited significantly better symptom relief compared to standard hypertonic saline spray.[

  

Treatment for osteoarthritis

Dead Sea Mud pack therapy has been suggested to temporarily relieve pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knees. According to researchers of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, treatment with mineral-rich mud compresses can be used to augment conventional medical therapy in these patients.

  

Fauna and flora

 

The sea is called "dead" because its high salinity prevents macroscopic aquatic organisms, such as fish and aquatic plants, from living in it, though minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present.

In times of flood, the salt content of the Dead Sea can drop from its usual 35% salinity to 30% or lower. The Dead Sea temporarily comes to life in the wake of rainy winters. In 1980, after one such rainy winter, the normally dark blue Dead Sea turned red. Researchers from Hebrew University found the Dead Sea to be teeming with a type of algae called Dunaliella. The Dunaliella in turn nourished carotenoid-containing (red-pigmented) halobacteria, whose presence caused the color change. Since 1980, the Dead Sea basin has been dry and the algae and the bacteria have not returned in measurable numbers.

Many animal species live in the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea. Hikers can see camels, ibex, hares, hyraxes, jackals, foxes, and even leopards. Hundreds of bird species inhabit the zone as well. Both Jordan and Israel have established nature reserves around the Dead Sea.

The delta of the Jordan River was formerly a veritable jungle of papyrus and palm trees. Flavius Josephus described Jericho as "the most fertile spot in Judea". In Roman and Byzantine times, sugarcane, henna, and sycamore fig all made the lower Jordan valley quite wealthy. One of the most valuable products produced by Jericho was the sap of the balsam tree, which could be made into perfume. However, by the 19th century, Jericho's fertility had disappeared.

  

Human settlement

There are several small communities near the Dead Sea. These include Ein Gedi, Neve Zohar and the Israeli settlements in the Megilot Regional Council: Kalya, Mitzpe Shalem and Avnat. There is a nature preserve at Ein Gedi, and several Dead Sea hotels are located on the southwest end at Ein Bokek near Neve Zohar. Highway 90 runs north-south on the Israeli side for a total distance of 565 km from Metula on the Lebanese border in the north to its southern terminus at the Egyptian border near the Red Sea port of Eilat.

Potash City is a small community on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. Highway 65 runs north-south on the Jordanian side.

  

Hebrew Bible

Just north of the Dead Sea is Jericho. Somewhere, perhaps on the southeastern shore, would be the cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis which were said to have been destroyed in the time of Abraham: Sodom and Gomorra (Genesis 18) and the three other "Cities of the Plain" - Admah, Zeboim and Zoar (Deuteronomy 29:23). Zoar escaped destruction when Abraham's nephew Lot escaped to Zoar from Sodom (Genesis 19:21-22). Before the destruction, the Dead Sea was a valley full of natural tar pits, which was called the vale of Siddim. King David was said to have hidden from Saul at Ein Gedi nearby.

In Ezekiel 47:8-9 there is a specific prophecy that the sea will ".. be healed and made fresh", becoming a normal lake capable of supporting marine life. A similar prophecy is stated in Zechariah 14:8, which says that "Living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea (likely the Dead Sea) and half to the western sea (the Mediterranean)..."

The Jewish historian Josephus identifies the Dead Sea in geographic proximity to the ancient Biblical city of Sodom. However, he refers to the lake by its Greek name, Asphaltites.

  

History

 

Second Temple period

 

Dwelling in caves near the Dead Sea is recorded in the Hebrew Bible as having taken place before the Israelites came to Canaan, and extensively at the time of King David. Various sects of Jews settled in caves overlooking the Dead Sea. The best known of these are the Essenes of Qumran, who left an extensive library known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.[25] The town of Ein Gedi, mentioned many times in the Mishna, produced persimmon for the temple's fragrance and for export, using a secret recipe. "Sodomite salt" was an essential mineral for the temple's holy incense, but was said to be dangerous for home use and could cause blindness.[26] The Roman camps surrounding Masada were built by Jewish slaves receiving water from the towns around the lake. These towns had drinking water from the Ein Feshcha springs and other sweetwater springs in the vicinity.

 

Ancient Greek period

The Greeks knew the Dead Sea as "Lake Asphaltites", due to the naturally surfacing asphalt. Aristotle wrote about the remarkable waters. Later, the Nabateans discovered the value of bitumen extracted from the Dead Sea needed by the Egyptians for embalming their mummies.

  

Herodian period

King Herod the Great built or rebuilt several fortresses and palaces on the western bank of the Dead Sea. The most famous was Masada, where, in 70-73 CE, a small group of Jewish zealots held out against the might of the Roman legion, and Machaerus where, according to Josephus, John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas and died.[28]

Also in Roman times, some Essenes settled on the Dead Sea's western shore; Pliny the Elder identifies their location with the words, "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast ... [above] the town of Engeda" (Natural History, Bk 5.73); and it is therefore a hugely popular but contested hypothesis today, that same Essenes are identical with the settlers at Qumran and that "the Dead Sea Scrolls" discovered during the 20th century in the nearby caves had been their own library.

 

In the Bible, the Dead Sea is called the Salt Sea, the Sea of the Arabah, and the Eastern Sea. The designation “Dead Sea” is a modern name which never appears in the Bible. The Dead Sea basin is another part of the Great Rift Valley. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end. Intimately connected with the Judean wilderness to its northwest and west, the Dead Sea was a place of escape and refuge. The remoteness of the region attracted Greek Orthodox monks since the Byzantine era. Their monasteries, such as Saint George in Wadi Kelt and Mar Saba in the Judean Desert, are places of pilgrimage.

  

Modern times

Explorers and scientists arrived in the area to analyze the minerals and research the unique climate. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, hundreds of religious documents dated between 150 BCE and 70 CE were found in caves near the ancient settlement of Qumran, about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea (presently in the West Bank). They became known and famous as the Dead Sea Scrolls. A golf course named for Sodom and Gomorrah was built by the British at Kalia on the northern shore.

The world's lowest road, Highway 90, runs along the Israeli and West Bank shores of the Dead Sea at 393 m (1,289 ft) below sea level.

The first major hotels were built in nearby Arad, and since the 1960s at the Neve Zohar resort complex. On Jordanian side, three international franchises have opened seaside resort hotels near the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center along the eastern coast of the Dead Sea.

 

Industry

 

In the early part of the 20th century, the Dead Sea began to attract interest from chemists who deduced the Sea was a natural deposit of potash and bromine. The Palestine Potash Company was chartered in 1929, after its founder, Siberian Jewish engineer and pioneer of Lake Baikal exploitation Moses Novomeysky, worked for the charter ex for over ten years. The first plant was on the north shore of the Dead Sea at Kalia and produced potash, or potassium chloride, by solar evaporation of the brine. Employing Arabs and Jews, it was an island of peace in turbulent times.[30] The company quickly grew into the largest industrial site in the Middle East,[citation needed] and in 1934 built a second plant on the southwest shore, in the Mount Sodom area, south of the 'Lashon' region of the Dead Sea. Palestine Potash Company supplied half of Britain's potash during World War II, but ultimately became a casualty of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Its remnants were nationalised and Dead Sea Works Ltd. was established in 1952 in its stead as a state-owned company to extract potash and other minerals from the Dead Sea.

From the Dead Sea brine, Israel produces (2001) 1.77 million tons potash, 206,000 tons elemental bromine, 44,900 tons caustic soda, 25,000 tons magnesium metal, and sodium chloride. On the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, Arab Potash (APC), formed in 1956, produces 2.0 million tons of potash annually, as well as sodium chloride and bromine. Both companies use extensive salt evaporation pans that have essentially diked the entire southern end of the Dead Sea for the purpose of producing carnallite, potassium magnesium chloride, which is then processed further to produce potassium chloride. The ponds are separated by a central dike that runs—roughly north-south—along the international border. The power plant on the Israeli side allows production of magnesium metal (by a subsidiary, Dead Sea Magnesium Ltd.).

Due to the popularity of the sea's therapeutic and healing properties, several companies have also shown interest in the manufacturing and supplying of Dead Sea salts as raw materials for body and skin care products.

  

Recession and environmental concerns

In recent decades, the Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north. The southern end is fed by a canal maintained by the Dead Sea Works, a company that converts the sea's raw materials. From a depression of 395 m (1,296 ft) below sea level in 1970[31] it fell 22 m (72 ft) to 418 m (1,371 ft) below sea level in 2006, reaching a drop rate of 1 m (3 ft) per year. As the water level decreases, the characteristics of the Sea and surrounding region may substantially change.

The Dead Sea level drop has been followed by a groundwater level drop, causing brines that used to occupy underground layers near the shoreline to be flushed out by freshwater. This is believed to be the cause of the recent appearance of large sinkholes along the western shore — incoming freshwater dissolves salt layers, rapidly creating subsurface cavities that subsequently collapse to form these sinkholes.[32]

In May 2009 at the World Economic Forum, Jordan announced its plans to construct the "Jordan National Red Sea Development Project" (JRSP). This is a plan to convey seawater from the Red Sea near Aqaba to the Dead Sea. Water would be desalinated along the route to provide fresh water to Jordan, with the brine discharge sent to the Dead Sea for replenishment. As of 2009, the project is in its early phases of planning, with developer and financier selection to be completed by year's end. The project is anticipated to begin detailed design in early 2010, with water delivery by 2017. Israel has expressed its support and will likely benefit from some of the water delivery to its Negev region. Some hydro-power will be collected near the Dead Sea from the dramatic change in elevation on the downhill side of the project.[citation needed] In October 2009, the Jordanians announced accelerated plans to extract around 300 million cubic meters of water per year from the Red Sea, desalinate it for use as fresh water and send the waste water to the Dead Sea by tunnel, despite concerns about inadequate time to assess the potential environmental impact.[33]

At a regional conference in July 2009, officials expressed increased concerns that water levels are dropping. Some suggested various industrial activities around the Dead Sea might need to be reduced. Others advised a range of possible environmental measures to restore conditions. This might include increasing the volume of flow from the Jordan River to replenish the Dead Sea. Currently, only sewage and effluent from fish ponds run in the river's channel. Experts also asserted a need for strict conservation efforts. They also said agriculture should not be expanded, sustainable support capabilities should be incorporated into the area and pollution sources should be reduced.

            

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea

   

The Dead Sea (Arabic: البحر الميت‎ al-Baḥr al-Mayyit (help•info),[3] Hebrew: יָם הַ‏‏מֶּ‏‏לַ‏ח‎‎, Yām HamMélaḥ, "Sea of Salt", also Hebrew: יָם הַ‏‏מָּוֶת‎‎, Yām HamMā́weṯ, "The Sea of Death"), also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are 423 metres (1,388 ft) below sea level,[2] Earth's lowest elevation on land. The Dead Sea is 377 m (1,237 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 33.7% salinity, it is also one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, though Lake Assal (Djibouti), Garabogazköl and some hypersaline lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond) have reported higher salinities. It is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean.[4] This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 67 kilometres (42 mi) long and 18 kilometres (11 mi) wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets. In 2009, 1.2 million foreign tourists visited on the Israeli side.[citation needed]

The sea has a density of 1.24 kg/L,[citation needed] which makes swimming similar to floating.[5]

   

Etymology and toponymy

In Hebrew, the Dead Sea is Yām ha-Melaḥ (help•info), meaning "sea of salt" (Genesis 14:3). In prose sometimes the term Yām ha-Māvet (ים המוות, "sea of death") is used, due to the scarcity of aquatic life there.[6] In Arabic the Dead Sea is called al-Bahr al-Mayyit (help•info)[3] ("the Dead Sea"), or less commonly baḥrᵘ lūṭᵃ (بحر لوط, "the Sea of Lot"). Another historic name in Arabic was the "Sea of Zoʼar", after a nearby town in biblical times. The Greeks called it Lake Asphaltites (Attic Greek ἡ Θάλαττα ἀσφαλτῖτης, hē Thálatta asphaltĩtēs, "the Asphaltite[7] sea"). The Bible also refers to it as Yām ha-Mizraḥî (ים המזרחי, "the Eastern sea") and Yām ha-‘Ărāvâ (ים הערבה, "Sea of the Arabah").

  

Geography

 

The Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform (DST). This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the tectonic plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the northern end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai.

The Jordan River is the only major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, creating pools and quicksand pits along the edges.[8] There are no outlet streams.

Rainfall is scarcely 100 mm (4 in) per year in the northern part of the Dead Sea and barely 50 mm (2 in) in the southern part. The Dead Sea zone's aridity is due to the rainshadow effect of the Judean Hills. The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself.

To the west of the Dead Sea, the Judean Hills rise less steeply and are much lower than the mountains to the east. Along the southwestern side of the lake is a 210 m (700 ft) tall halite formation called "Mount Sodom".

  

Natural history

There are two contending hypotheses about the origin of the low elevation of the Dead Sea. The older hypothesis is that it lies in a true rift zone, an extension of the Red Sea Rift, or even of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa. A more recent hypothesis is that the Dead Sea basin is a consequence of a "step-over" discontinuity along the Dead Sea Transform, creating an extension of the crust with consequent subsidence.

Around three million years ago,[citation needed] what is now the valley of the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and Wadi Arabah was repeatedly inundated by waters from the Mediterranean Sea. The waters formed in a narrow, crooked bay which was connected to the sea through what is now the Jezreel Valley. The floods of the valley came and went depending on long scale climate change. The lake that occupied the Dead Sea Rift, named "Lake Sedom",[9] deposited beds of salt that eventually became 3 km (2 mi) thick.

 

Approximately two million years ago,[citation needed] the land between the Rift Valley and the Mediterranean Sea rose to such an extent that the ocean could no longer flood the area. Thus, the long bay became a lake.

The first such prehistoric lake is named "Lake Amora"[9] Lake Amora was a freshwater or brackish lake that extended at least 80 km (50 mi) south of the current southern end of the Dead Sea and 100 km (60 mi) north, well above the present Hula Depression. As the climate became more arid, Lake Amora shrank and became saltier. The large, saltwater predecessor of the Dead Sea is called "Lake Lisan."[9]

In prehistoric times, great amounts of sediment collected on the floor of Lake Amora. The sediment was heavier than the salt deposits and squeezed the salt deposits upwards into what are now the Lisan Peninsula and Mount Sodom (on the southwest side of the lake). Geologists explain the effect in terms of a bucket of mud into which a large flat stone is placed, forcing the mud to creep up the sides of the pail. When the floor of the Dead Sea dropped further due to tectonic forces, the salt mounts of Lisan and Mount Sodom stayed in place as high cliffs. (see salt domes)

From 70,000 to 12,000 years ago, the lake level was 100 m (330 ft) to 250 m (820 ft) higher than its current level. This lake, called "Lake Lisan", fluctuated dramatically, rising to its highest level around 26,000 years ago, indicating a very wet climate in the Near East.[10] Around 10,000 years ago, the lake level dropped dramatically, probably to levels even lower than today. During the last several thousand years, the lake has fluctuated approximately 400 m (1,300 ft), with some significant drops and rises. Current theories as to the cause of this dramatic drop in levels rule out volcanic activity; therefore, it may have been a seismic event.

  

Climate

The Dead Sea's climate offers year-round sunny skies and dry air. It has less than 50 millimetres (2 in) mean annual rainfall and a summer average temperature between 32 and 39 °C (90 and 102 °F). Winter average temperatures range between 20 and 23 °C (68 and 73 °F). The region has weakened ultraviolet radiation, particularly the UVB (erythrogenic rays), and an atmosphere characterized by a high oxygen content due to the high barometric pressure.[11] The sea affects temperatures nearby because of the moderating effect a large body of water has on climate. During the winter, sea temperatures tend to be higher than land temperatures, and vice versa during the summer months. This is the result of the water's mass and specific heat capacity. On average, there are 192 days above 30C (86F) annually.[12]

  

Chemistry

 

Until the winter of 1978-79, when a major mixing event took place,[14] the Dead Sea was composed of two stratified layers of water that differed in temperature, density, age, and salinity. The topmost 35 metres (115 ft) or so of the Dead Sea had a salinity that ranged between 300 and 400 parts per thousand and a temperature that swung between 19 °C (66 °F) and 37 °C (99 °F). Underneath a zone of transition, the lowest level of the Dead Sea had waters of a consistent 22 °C (72 °F) temperature and complete saturation of sodium chloride (NaCl).[citation needed] Since the water near the bottom is saturated, the salt precipitates out of solution onto the sea floor.

Beginning in the 1960s, water inflow to the Dead Sea from the Jordan River was reduced as a result of large-scale irrigation and generally low rainfall. By 1975, the upper water layer was saltier than the lower layer. Nevertheless, the upper layer remained suspended above the lower layer because its waters were warmer and thus less dense. When the upper layer cooled so its density was greater than the lower layer, the waters mixed (1978–79). For the first time in centuries, the lake was a homogeneous body of water. Since then, stratification has begun to redevelop.[14]

The mineral content of the Dead Sea is very different from that of ocean water. The exact composition of the Dead Sea water varies mainly with season, depth and temperature. In the early 1980s, the concentration of ionic species (in g/kg) of Dead Sea surface water was Cl− (181.4), Br− (4.2), SO42− (0.4), HCO3− (0.2), Ca2+ (14.1), Na+ (32.5), K+ (6.2) and Mg2+ (35.2). The total salinity was 276 g/kg.[15] These results show that the composition of the salt, as anhydrous chlorides on a weight percentage basis, was calcium chloride (CaCl2) 14.4%, potassium chloride (KCl) 4.4%, magnesium chloride (MgCl2) 50.8% and sodium chloride (common salt, NaCl) 30.4%. In comparison, the salt in the water of most oceans and seas is approximately 97% sodium chloride. The concentration of sulfate ions (SO42−) is very low, and the concentration of bromide ions (Br−) is the highest of all waters on Earth. The sea itself is abundant in minerals acclaimed to have therapeutic value.[citation needed]

The salt concentration of the Dead Sea fluctuates around 31.5%. This is unusually high and results in a nominal density of 1.24 kg/l. Anyone can easily float in the Dead Sea because of natural buoyancy. In this respect the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah in the United States.

An unusual feature of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt. From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles and blocks of the black substance.[16] Asphalt coated figurines and bitumen coated Neolithic skulls from archaeological sites have been found. Egyptian mummification processes used asphalt imported from the Dead Sea region.

 

Health effects and therapies

The Dead Sea area has become a major center for health research and treatment for several reasons. The mineral content of the water, the very low content of pollens and other allergens in the atmosphere, the reduced ultraviolet component of solar radiation, and the higher atmospheric pressure at this great depth each have specific health effects. For example, persons suffering reduced respiratory function from diseases such as cystic fibrosis seem to benefit from the increased atmospheric pressure.[19]

The region's climate and low elevation have made it a popular center for several types of therapies:

•Climatotherapy: Treatment which exploits local climatic features such as temperature, humidity, sunshine, barometric pressure and special atmospheric constituents

•Heliotherapy: Treatment that exploits the biological effects of the sun's radiation

•Thalassotherapy: Treatment that exploits bathing in Dead Sea water

  

Treatment for psoriasis

Climatotherapy at the Dead Sea is an effective therapy for patients with the skin disorder psoriasis,[20] which also benefit from the ability to sunbathe for long periods in the area due to its position below sea level and subsequent result that many of the sun's harmful UV rays are reduced.[21]

  

Treatment for rhinosinusitis

Rhinosinusitis patients receiving Dead Sea saline nasal irrigation exhibited significantly better symptom relief compared to standard hypertonic saline spray.[

  

Treatment for osteoarthritis

Dead Sea Mud pack therapy has been suggested to temporarily relieve pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knees. According to researchers of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, treatment with mineral-rich mud compresses can be used to augment conventional medical therapy in these patients.

  

Fauna and flora

 

The sea is called "dead" because its high salinity prevents macroscopic aquatic organisms, such as fish and aquatic plants, from living in it, though minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present.

In times of flood, the salt content of the Dead Sea can drop from its usual 35% salinity to 30% or lower. The Dead Sea temporarily comes to life in the wake of rainy winters. In 1980, after one such rainy winter, the normally dark blue Dead Sea turned red. Researchers from Hebrew University found the Dead Sea to be teeming with a type of algae called Dunaliella. The Dunaliella in turn nourished carotenoid-containing (red-pigmented) halobacteria, whose presence caused the color change. Since 1980, the Dead Sea basin has been dry and the algae and the bacteria have not returned in measurable numbers.

Many animal species live in the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea. Hikers can see camels, ibex, hares, hyraxes, jackals, foxes, and even leopards. Hundreds of bird species inhabit the zone as well. Both Jordan and Israel have established nature reserves around the Dead Sea.

The delta of the Jordan River was formerly a veritable jungle of papyrus and palm trees. Flavius Josephus described Jericho as "the most fertile spot in Judea". In Roman and Byzantine times, sugarcane, henna, and sycamore fig all made the lower Jordan valley quite wealthy. One of the most valuable products produced by Jericho was the sap of the balsam tree, which could be made into perfume. However, by the 19th century, Jericho's fertility had disappeared.

  

Human settlement

There are several small communities near the Dead Sea. These include Ein Gedi, Neve Zohar and the Israeli settlements in the Megilot Regional Council: Kalya, Mitzpe Shalem and Avnat. There is a nature preserve at Ein Gedi, and several Dead Sea hotels are located on the southwest end at Ein Bokek near Neve Zohar. Highway 90 runs north-south on the Israeli side for a total distance of 565 km from Metula on the Lebanese border in the north to its southern terminus at the Egyptian border near the Red Sea port of Eilat.

Potash City is a small community on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. Highway 65 runs north-south on the Jordanian side.

  

Hebrew Bible

Just north of the Dead Sea is Jericho. Somewhere, perhaps on the southeastern shore, would be the cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis which were said to have been destroyed in the time of Abraham: Sodom and Gomorra (Genesis 18) and the three other "Cities of the Plain" - Admah, Zeboim and Zoar (Deuteronomy 29:23). Zoar escaped destruction when Abraham's nephew Lot escaped to Zoar from Sodom (Genesis 19:21-22). Before the destruction, the Dead Sea was a valley full of natural tar pits, which was called the vale of Siddim. King David was said to have hidden from Saul at Ein Gedi nearby.

In Ezekiel 47:8-9 there is a specific prophecy that the sea will ".. be healed and made fresh", becoming a normal lake capable of supporting marine life. A similar prophecy is stated in Zechariah 14:8, which says that "Living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea (likely the Dead Sea) and half to the western sea (the Mediterranean)..."

The Jewish historian Josephus identifies the Dead Sea in geographic proximity to the ancient Biblical city of Sodom. However, he refers to the lake by its Greek name, Asphaltites.

  

History

 

Second Temple period

 

Dwelling in caves near the Dead Sea is recorded in the Hebrew Bible as having taken place before the Israelites came to Canaan, and extensively at the time of King David. Various sects of Jews settled in caves overlooking the Dead Sea. The best known of these are the Essenes of Qumran, who left an extensive library known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.[25] The town of Ein Gedi, mentioned many times in the Mishna, produced persimmon for the temple's fragrance and for export, using a secret recipe. "Sodomite salt" was an essential mineral for the temple's holy incense, but was said to be dangerous for home use and could cause blindness.[26] The Roman camps surrounding Masada were built by Jewish slaves receiving water from the towns around the lake. These towns had drinking water from the Ein Feshcha springs and other sweetwater springs in the vicinity.

 

Ancient Greek period

The Greeks knew the Dead Sea as "Lake Asphaltites", due to the naturally surfacing asphalt. Aristotle wrote about the remarkable waters. Later, the Nabateans discovered the value of bitumen extracted from the Dead Sea needed by the Egyptians for embalming their mummies.

  

Herodian period

King Herod the Great built or rebuilt several fortresses and palaces on the western bank of the Dead Sea. The most famous was Masada, where, in 70-73 CE, a small group of Jewish zealots held out against the might of the Roman legion, and Machaerus where, according to Josephus, John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas and died.[28]

Also in Roman times, some Essenes settled on the Dead Sea's western shore; Pliny the Elder identifies their location with the words, "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast ... [above] the town of Engeda" (Natural History, Bk 5.73); and it is therefore a hugely popular but contested hypothesis today, that same Essenes are identical with the settlers at Qumran and that "the Dead Sea Scrolls" discovered during the 20th century in the nearby caves had been their own library.

 

In the Bible, the Dead Sea is called the Salt Sea, the Sea of the Arabah, and the Eastern Sea. The designation “Dead Sea” is a modern name which never appears in the Bible. The Dead Sea basin is another part of the Great Rift Valley. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end. Intimately connected with the Judean wilderness to its northwest and west, the Dead Sea was a place of escape and refuge. The remoteness of the region attracted Greek Orthodox monks since the Byzantine era. Their monasteries, such as Saint George in Wadi Kelt and Mar Saba in the Judean Desert, are places of pilgrimage.

  

Modern times

Explorers and scientists arrived in the area to analyze the minerals and research the unique climate. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, hundreds of religious documents dated between 150 BCE and 70 CE were found in caves near the ancient settlement of Qumran, about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea (presently in the West Bank). They became known and famous as the Dead Sea Scrolls. A golf course named for Sodom and Gomorrah was built by the British at Kalia on the northern shore.

The world's lowest road, Highway 90, runs along the Israeli and West Bank shores of the Dead Sea at 393 m (1,289 ft) below sea level.

The first major hotels were built in nearby Arad, and since the 1960s at the Neve Zohar resort complex. On Jordanian side, three international franchises have opened seaside resort hotels near the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center along the eastern coast of the Dead Sea.

 

Industry

 

In the early part of the 20th century, the Dead Sea began to attract interest from chemists who deduced the Sea was a natural deposit of potash and bromine. The Palestine Potash Company was chartered in 1929, after its founder, Siberian Jewish engineer and pioneer of Lake Baikal exploitation Moses Novomeysky, worked for the charter ex for over ten years. The first plant was on the north shore of the Dead Sea at Kalia and produced potash, or potassium chloride, by solar evaporation of the brine. Employing Arabs and Jews, it was an island of peace in turbulent times.[30] The company quickly grew into the largest industrial site in the Middle East,[citation needed] and in 1934 built a second plant on the southwest shore, in the Mount Sodom area, south of the 'Lashon' region of the Dead Sea. Palestine Potash Company supplied half of Britain's potash during World War II, but ultimately became a casualty of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Its remnants were nationalised and Dead Sea Works Ltd. was established in 1952 in its stead as a state-owned company to extract potash and other minerals from the Dead Sea.

From the Dead Sea brine, Israel produces (2001) 1.77 million tons potash, 206,000 tons elemental bromine, 44,900 tons caustic soda, 25,000 tons magnesium metal, and sodium chloride. On the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, Arab Potash (APC), formed in 1956, produces 2.0 million tons of potash annually, as well as sodium chloride and bromine. Both companies use extensive salt evaporation pans that have essentially diked the entire southern end of the Dead Sea for the purpose of producing carnallite, potassium magnesium chloride, which is then processed further to produce potassium chloride. The ponds are separated by a central dike that runs—roughly north-south—along the international border. The power plant on the Israeli side allows production of magnesium metal (by a subsidiary, Dead Sea Magnesium Ltd.).

Due to the popularity of the sea's therapeutic and healing properties, several companies have also shown interest in the manufacturing and supplying of Dead Sea salts as raw materials for body and skin care products.

  

Recession and environmental concerns

In recent decades, the Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north. The southern end is fed by a canal maintained by the Dead Sea Works, a company that converts the sea's raw materials. From a depression of 395 m (1,296 ft) below sea level in 1970[31] it fell 22 m (72 ft) to 418 m (1,371 ft) below sea level in 2006, reaching a drop rate of 1 m (3 ft) per year. As the water level decreases, the characteristics of the Sea and surrounding region may substantially change.

The Dead Sea level drop has been followed by a groundwater level drop, causing brines that used to occupy underground layers near the shoreline to be flushed out by freshwater. This is believed to be the cause of the recent appearance of large sinkholes along the western shore — incoming freshwater dissolves salt layers, rapidly creating subsurface cavities that subsequently collapse to form these sinkholes.[32]

In May 2009 at the World Economic Forum, Jordan announced its plans to construct the "Jordan National Red Sea Development Project" (JRSP). This is a plan to convey seawater from the Red Sea near Aqaba to the Dead Sea. Water would be desalinated along the route to provide fresh water to Jordan, with the brine discharge sent to the Dead Sea for replenishment. As of 2009, the project is in its early phases of planning, with developer and financier selection to be completed by year's end. The project is anticipated to begin detailed design in early 2010, with water delivery by 2017. Israel has expressed its support and will likely benefit from some of the water delivery to its Negev region. Some hydro-power will be collected near the Dead Sea from the dramatic change in elevation on the downhill side of the project.[citation needed] In October 2009, the Jordanians announced accelerated plans to extract around 300 million cubic meters of water per year from the Red Sea, desalinate it for use as fresh water and send the waste water to the Dead Sea by tunnel, despite concerns about inadequate time to assess the potential environmental impact.[33]

At a regional conference in July 2009, officials expressed increased concerns that water levels are dropping. Some suggested various industrial activities around the Dead Sea might need to be reduced. Others advised a range of possible environmental measures to restore conditions. This might include increasing the volume of flow from the Jordan River to replenish the Dead Sea. Currently, only sewage and effluent from fish ponds run in the river's channel. Experts also asserted a need for strict conservation efforts. They also said agriculture should not be expanded, sustainable support capabilities should be incorporated into the area and pollution sources should be reduced.

            

Sandy Bay, Roatán, Islas de la Bahía, Honduras

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana

The Dead Sea also known by other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

 

As of 2019, the lake's surface is 430.5 metres (1,412 ft) below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth. It is 304 m (997 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34.2% (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water – 9.6 times as salty as the ocean – and has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea's main, northern basin is 50 kilometres (31 mi) long and 15 kilometres (9 mi) wide at its widest point.

 

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean Basin for thousands of years. It was one of the world's first health resorts, and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilisers. Today, tourists visit the sea on its Israeli, Jordanian and West Bank coastlines.

 

The Dead Sea is receding at a swift rate; its surface area today is 605 km2 (234 sq mi), having been 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) in 1930. Multiple canal and pipeline proposals, such as the scrapped Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, have been made to reduce its recession.

 

Names

The English name "Dead Sea" is a calque of the Arabic name Bahr or al-Bahr al-Mayyit itself a calque of earlier Greek (Νεκρά Θάλασσα, Nekrá Thálassa) and Latin names (Mare Mortuum) in reference to the scarcity of aquatic life caused by the lake's extreme salinity. The name also occasionally appears in Hebrew literature as Yām HaMāvet (ים המוות), 'Sea of Death'.

 

The usual biblical and modern Hebrew name for the lake is the Sea of Salt. Other Hebrew names for the lake also mentioned in the Bible are the Sea of Arabah (ים הערבה, Yām Ha‘Ărāvâ) and the Eastern Sea (הים הקדמוני, HaYām HaKadmoni). In Arabic, it is also known as the Sea of Lot (‏بحر لوط‎, Buhayrat, Bahret, or Birket Lut) from the nephew of Abraham whose wife was said to have turned into a pillar of salt during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Less often, it has been known in Arabic as the Sea of Zo'ar from a formerly important city along its shores.

 

Historical English names include the Salt Sea, Lake of Sodom from the biblical account of its destruction and Lake Asphaltites from Greek and Latin. Because of the large volume of ancient trade in the lake's naturally occurring free-floating bitumen, its usual names in ancient Greek and Roman geography were some form of Asphalt Lake (Greek: Ἀσφαλτίτης or Ἀσφαλτίτις Λίμνη, Asphaltítēs or Asphaltítis Límnē; Latin: Lacus Asphaltites) or Sea (Ἀσφαλτίτης Θάλασσα, Asphaltítēs Thálassa).

 

Geography

The Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform (DST). This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the tectonic plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the northern end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end.

 

The Jordan River is the only major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools and quicksand pits along the edges. There are no outlet streams.

 

The Mujib River, biblical Arnon, is one of the larger water sources of the Dead Sea other than the Jordan. The Wadi Mujib valley, 420 m below the sea level in the southern part of the Jordan valley, is a biosphere reserve, with an area of 212 km2 (82 sq mi). Other more substantial sources are Wadi Darajeh (Arabic)/Nahal Dragot (Hebrew), and Nahal Arugot [de] that ends at Ein Gedi. Wadi Hasa (biblical Zered) is another wadi flowing into the Dead Sea.

 

Rainfall is scarcely 100 mm (4 in) per year in the northern part of the Dead Sea and barely 50 mm (2 in) in the southern part. The Dead Sea zone's aridity is due to the rainshadow effect of the Judaean Mountains. The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself.

 

To the west of the Dead Sea, the Judaean mountains rise less steeply and are much lower than the mountains to the east. Along the southwestern side of the lake is a 210 m (700 ft) tall halite mineral formation called Mount Sodom.

 

The salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Palestine's Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

 

Geology

There are two contending hypotheses about the origin of the low elevation of the Dead Sea. The older hypothesis is that the Dead Sea lies in a true rift zone, an extension of the Red Sea Rift, or even of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa. A more recent hypothesis is that the Dead Sea basin is a consequence of a "step-over" discontinuity along the Dead Sea Transform, creating an extension of the crust with consequent subsidence.

 

Sedom Lagoon

During the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene, around 3.7 million years ago,[citation needed] what is now the valley of the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and the northern Wadi Arabah was repeatedly inundated by waters from the Mediterranean Sea. The waters formed in a narrow, crooked bay that is called by geologists the Sedom Lagoon, which was connected to the sea through what is now the Jezreel Valley.[citation needed] The floods of the valley came and went depending on long-scale changes in the tectonic and climatic conditions.

 

The Sedom Lagoon extended at its maximum from the Sea of Galilee in the north to somewhere around 50 km (30 mi) south of the current southern end of the Dead Sea, and the subsequent lakes never surpassed this expanse. The Hula Depression was never part of any of these water bodies due to its higher elevation and the high threshold of the Korazim block separating it from the Sea of Galilee basin.

 

Salt deposits

The Sedom Lagoon deposited evaporites mainly consisting of rock salt, which eventually reached a thickness of 2.3 km (1.43 mi) on the old basin floor in the area of today's Mount Sedom.

 

Lake formation

Approximately two million years ago, the land between the Jordan Rift Valley and the Mediterranean Sea rose to such an extent that the ocean could no longer flood the area. Thus, the long lagoon became a landlocked lake.

 

The first prehistoric lake to follow the Sedom Lagoon is named Lake Amora (which possibly appeared in the early Pleistocene; its sediments developed into the Amora (Samra) Formation, dated to over 200–80 kyr BP), followed by Lake Lisan (c. 70–14 kyr) and finally by the Dead Sea.

 

Lake salinity

The water levels and salinity of the successive lakes (Amora, Lisan, Dead Sea) have either risen or fallen as an effect of the tectonic dropping of the valley bottom, and due to climate variation. As the climate became more arid, Lake Lisan finally shrank and became saltier, leaving the Dead Sea as its last remainder.

 

From 70,000 to 12,000 years ago, Lake Lisan's level was 100 m (330 ft) to 250 m (820 ft) higher than its current level, possibly due to lower evaporation than in the present. Its level fluctuated dramatically, rising to its highest level around 26,000 years ago, indicating a very wet climate in the Near East. Around 10,000 years ago, the lake's level dropped dramatically, probably even lower than today. During the last several thousand years, the lake has fluctuated approximately 400 m (1,300 ft), with some significant drops and rises. Current theories as to the cause of this dramatic drop in levels rule out volcanic activity; therefore, it may have been a seismic event.

 

Salt mounts formation

In prehistoric times,[dubious – discuss] great amounts of sediment collected on the floor of Lake Amora. The sediment was heavier than the salt deposits and squeezed the salt deposits upwards into what are now the Lisan Peninsula and Mount Sodom (on the southwest side of the lake). Geologists explain the effect in terms of a bucket of mud into which a large flat stone is placed, forcing the mud to creep up the sides of the bucket. When the floor of the Dead Sea dropped further due to tectonic forces, the salt mounts of Lisan and Mount Sodom stayed in place as high cliffs (see salt dome).

 

Climate

The Dead Sea has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), with year-round sunny skies and dry air. It has less than 50 millimetres (2 in) mean annual rainfall and a summer average temperature between 32 and 39 °C (90 and 102 °F). Winter average temperatures range between 20 and 23 °C (68 and 73 °F). The region has weaker ultraviolet radiation, particularly the UVB (erythrogenic rays). Given the higher atmospheric pressure, the air has a slightly higher oxygen content (3.3% in summer to 4.8% in winter) as compared to oxygen concentration at sea level. Barometric pressures at the Dead Sea were measured between 1061 and 1065 hPa and clinically compared with health effects at higher altitude. (This barometric measure is about 5% higher than sea level standard atmospheric pressure of 1013.25 hPa, which is the global ocean mean or ATM.) The Dead Sea affects temperatures nearby because of the moderating effect a large body of water has on climate. During the winter, sea temperatures tend to be higher than land temperatures, and vice versa during the summer months. This is the result of the water's mass and specific heat capacity. On average, there are 192 days above 30 °C (86 °F) annually.

 

Chemistry

With 34.2% salinity (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, though Lake Vanda in Antarctica (35%), Lake Assal in Djibouti (34.8%), Lagoon Garabogazköl in the Caspian Sea (up to 35%) and some hypersaline ponds and lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond (44%)) have reported higher salinities.

 

In the 19th century and the early 20th century, the surface layers of the Dead Sea were less salty than today, which resulted in an average density in the range of 1.15-1.17 g/cm3 instead of the present value of around 1.25 g/cm3. A sample tested by Bernays in the 19th century had a salinity of 19%. By the year 1926, the salinity had increased (although it was also suspected that the salinity varies seasonally and depends on the distance from the mouth of the Jordan).

 

Until the winter of 1978–79, when a major mixing event took place, the Dead Sea was composed of two stratified layers of water that differed in temperature, density, age, and salinity. The topmost 35 meters (115 ft) or so of the Dead Sea had an average salinity of about 30%, and a temperature that swung between 19 °C (66 °F) and 37 °C (99 °F). Underneath a zone of transition, the lowest level of the Dead Sea had waters of a consistent 22 °C (72 °F) temperature, salinity of over 34%, and complete saturation of sodium chloride (NaCl). Since the water near the bottom is saturated with NaCl, that salt precipitates out of solution onto the sea floor.

 

Beginning in the 1960s, water inflow to the Dead Sea from the Jordan River was reduced as a result of large-scale irrigation and generally low rainfall. By 1975, the upper water layer was saltier than the lower layer. Nevertheless, the upper layer remained suspended above the lower layer because its waters were warmer and thus less dense. When the upper layer cooled so its density was greater than the lower layer, the waters mixed (1978–79). For the first time in centuries, the lake was a homogeneous body of water. Since then, stratification has begun to redevelop.

 

The mineral content of the Dead Sea is very different from that of ocean water. The exact composition of the Dead Sea water varies mainly with season, depth and temperature. In the early 1980s, the concentration of ionic species (in g/kg) of Dead Sea surface water was Cl− (181.4), Br− (4.2), SO42− (0.4), HCO3− (0.2), Ca2+ (14.1), Na+ (32.5), K+ (6.2) and Mg2+ (35.2). The total salinity was 276 g/kg. These results show that the composition of the salt, as anhydrous chlorides on a weight percentage basis, was calcium chloride (CaCl2) 14.4%, potassium chloride (KCl) 4.4%, magnesium chloride (MgCl2) 50.8% and sodium chloride (NaCl) 30.4%. In comparison, the salt in the water of most oceans and seas is approximately 85% sodium chloride. The concentration of sulfate ions (SO42−) is very low, and the concentration of bromide ions (Br−) is the highest of all waters on Earth.

 

The salt concentration of the Dead Sea fluctuates around 31.5%. This is unusually high and results in a nominal density of 1.24 kg/L. Anyone can easily float in the Dead Sea because of natural buoyancy. In this respect the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah in the United States.

 

An unusual feature of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt. From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles and blocks of the black substance. Asphalt-coated figurines and bitumen-coated Neolithic skulls from archaeological sites have been found. Egyptian mummification processes used asphalt imported from the Dead Sea region.

 

Putative therapies

The Dead Sea area has become a location for health research and potential treatment for several reasons. The mineral content of the water, the low content of pollens and other allergens in the atmosphere, the reduced ultraviolet component of solar radiation, and the higher atmospheric pressure at this great depth each may have specific health effects. For example, persons experiencing reduced respiratory function from diseases such as cystic fibrosis seem to benefit from the increased atmospheric pressure.

 

The region's climate and low elevation have made it a popular center for assessment of putative therapies:

 

Climatotherapy: Treatment which exploits local climatic features such as temperature, humidity, sunshine, barometric pressure and special atmospheric constituents

 

Heliotherapy: Treatment that exploits the biological effects of the sun's radiation

 

Thalassotherapy: Treatment that exploits bathing in Dead Sea water

 

Climatotherapy at the Dead Sea may be a therapy for psoriasis by sunbathing for long periods in the area due to its position below sea level and subsequent result that UV rays are partially blocked by the increased thickness of the atmosphere[citation needed] over the Dead Sea.

 

Rhinosinusitis patients receiving Dead Sea saline nasal irrigation exhibited improved symptom relief compared to standard hypertonic saline spray in one study.

 

Dead Sea mud pack therapy has been suggested to temporarily relieve pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knees. According to researchers of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, treatment with mineral-rich mud compresses can be used to augment conventional medical therapy.

 

Life forms

The sea is called "dead" because its high salinity prevents macroscopic aquatic organisms, such as fish and aquatic plants, from living in it, though minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present.

 

In times of flood, the salt content of the Dead Sea can drop from its usual 35% to 30% or lower. The Dead Sea temporarily comes to life in the wake of rainy winters. In 1980, after one such rainy winter, the normally dark blue Dead Sea turned red. Researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem found the Dead Sea to be teeming with an alga called Dunaliella. Dunaliella in turn nourished carotenoid-containing (red-pigmented) halobacteria, whose presence caused the color change. Since 1980, the Dead Sea basin has been dry and the algae and the bacteria have not returned in measurable numbers.

 

In 2011 a group of scientists from Be'er Sheva, Israel and Germany discovered fissures in the floor of the Dead Sea by scuba diving and observing the surface. These fissures allow fresh and brackish water to enter the Dead Sea. They sampled biofilms surrounding the fissures and discovered numerous species of bacteria and archaea.

 

Fauna and flora around the lake

Many animal species live in the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea. Hikers can see ibex, hares, hyraxes, jackals, foxes, and even leopards. Hundreds of bird species inhabit the zone as well. Both Jordan and Israel have established nature reserves around the Dead Sea.

 

History

The delta of the Jordan River was formerly a jungle of papyrus and palm trees. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus described Jericho as "the most fertile spot in Judea". In Roman and Byzantine times, sugarcane, henna, and sycamore fig all made the lower Jordan valley wealthy. One of the most valuable products produced by Jericho was the sap of the balsam tree, which could be made into perfume. By the 19th century, Jericho's fertility had disappeared.

 

Human settlement

There are several small communities near the Dead Sea. These include Ein Gedi, Neve Zohar and the Israeli settlements in the Megilot Regional Council: Kalya, Mitzpe Shalem and Avnat. There is a nature preserve at Ein Gedi, and several Dead Sea hotels are located on the southwest end at Ein Bokek near Neve Zohar. Highway 90 runs north–south on the Israeli side for a total distance of 565 km (351 mi) from Metula on the Lebanese border in the north to its southern terminus at the Egyptian border near the Red Sea port of Eilat.

 

Potash City is a small community on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, and others including Suweima. Highway 65 runs north–south on the Jordanian side from near Jordan's northern tip down past the Dead Sea to the port of Aqaba.

 

Human history

Dwelling in caves near the Dead Sea is recorded in the Hebrew Bible as having taken place before the Israelites came to Canaan, and extensively at the time of King David.

 

Just northwest of the Dead Sea is Jericho. Somewhere, perhaps on the southeastern shore, would be the cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis which were said to have been destroyed in the time of Abraham: Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) and the three other "Cities of the Plain", Admah, Zeboim and Zoar (Deuteronomy 29:23). Zoar escaped destruction when Abraham's nephew Lot escaped to Zoar from Sodom (Genesis 19:21–22). Before the destruction, the Dead Sea was a valley full of natural tar pits, which was called the vale of Siddim. King David was said to have hidden from Saul at Ein Gedi nearby.

 

In Ezekiel 47:8–9 there is a specific prophecy that the sea will "be healed and made fresh", becoming a normal lake capable of supporting marine life. A similar prophecy is stated in Zechariah 14:8, which says that "living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea [likely the Dead Sea] and half to the western sea [the Mediterranean]."

 

Greek and Roman period

Greek and Jewish writers report that the Nabateans had monopolistic control over the Dead Sea.

 

Archaeological evidence shows multiple anchorages existing on both sides of the sea, including in Ein Gedi, Khirbet Mazin (where the ruins of a Hasmonean-era dry dock are located), Numeira and near Masada.

 

King Herod the Great built or rebuilt several fortresses and palaces on the western bank of the Dead Sea. The most famous was Masada, where in 70 CE a small group of Jewish zealots fled after the fall of the destruction of the Second Temple. The zealots survived until 73 CE, when a siege by the X Legion ended in the deaths by suicide of its 960 inhabitants. Another historically important fortress was Machaerus (מכוור), on the eastern bank, where, according to Josephus, John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas and died.

 

Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink, this would bear out what we have said. They say that this lake is so bitter and salt that no fish live in it and that if you soak clothes in it and shake them it cleans them. — Aristotle, Meteorology

 

Also in Roman times, some Essenes settled on the Dead Sea's western shore; Pliny the Elder identifies their location with the words, "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast ... the town of Engeda" (Natural History, Bk 5.73); and it is therefore a hugely popular but contested hypothesis today, that same Essenes are identical with the settlers at Qumran and that "the Dead Sea Scrolls" discovered during the 20th century in the nearby caves had been their own library.

 

Josephus identified the Dead Sea in geographic proximity to the ancient Biblical city of Sodom. However, he referred to the lake by its Greek name, Asphaltites.

 

Various sects of Jews settled in caves overlooking the Dead Sea. The best known of these are the Essenes of Qumran, who left an extensive library known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The town of Ein Gedi, mentioned many times in the Mishna, produced persimmon for the temple's fragrance and for export, using a secret recipe. "Sodomite salt" was an essential mineral for the temple's holy incense, but was said to be dangerous for home use and could cause blindness. The Roman camps surrounding Masada were built by Jewish slaves receiving water from the towns around the lake. These towns had drinking water from the Ein Feshcha springs and other sweetwater springs in the vicinity.

 

Byzantine period

Intimately connected with the Judean wilderness to its northwest and west, the Dead Sea was a place of escape and refuge. The remoteness of the region attracted Greek Orthodox monks since the Byzantine era. Their monasteries, such as Saint George in Wadi Kelt and Mar Saba in the Judaean Desert, are places of pilgrimage.

 

Modern times

In the 19th century the River Jordan and the Dead Sea were explored by boat primarily by Christopher Costigan in 1835, Thomas Howard Molyneux in 1847, William Francis Lynch in 1848, and John MacGregor in 1869. The full text of W. F. Lynch's 1949 book Narrative of the United States' Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea is available online. Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles travelled along the shores of the Dead Sea already in 1817–18, but didn't navigate on its waters.

 

Explorers and scientists arrived in the area to analyze the minerals and research the unique climate.

 

After the find of the "Moabite Stone" in 1868 on the plateau east of the Dead Sea, Moses Wilhelm Shapira and his partner Salim al-Khouri forged and sold a whole range of presumed "Moabite" antiquities, and in 1883 Shapira presented what is now known as the "Shapira Strips", a supposedly ancient scroll written on leather strips which he claimed had been found near the Dead Sea. The strips were declared to be forgeries and Shapira took his own life in disgrace.

 

The 1922 census of Palestine lists 100 people (68 Muslims and 32 Christians) with "Dead Sea & Jordan" as their main locality. The 1931 census shows a sharp increase with 535 people (264 Muslims, 230 Jews, 21 Christians, 17 Druze, and three with no religion) listing "Dead Sea" as their main village/town. The 1938 nor 1945 village statistics does not give a number for the general Dead Sea area.

 

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, hundreds of religious documents dated between 150 BCE and 70 CE were found in caves near the ancient settlement of Qumran, about one mile (1.6 kilometres) inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea (presently in the West Bank). They became known and famous as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

The world's lowest roads, Highway 90, run along the Israeli and West Bank shores of the Dead Sea, along with Highway 65 on the Jordanian side, at 393 m (1,289 ft) below sea level.

 

Tourism and leisure

A golf course named for Sodom and Gomorrah was built by the British at Kalia on the northern shore.

 

Israel

The first major Israeli hotels were built in nearby Arad, and since the 1960s at the Ein Bokek resort complex.

 

Israel has 15 hotels along the Dead Sea shore, generating total revenues of $291 million in 2012. Most Israeli hotels and resorts on the Dead Sea are on a six-kilometre (3.7-mile) stretch of the southern shore.

 

Jordan

On the Jordanian side, nine international franchises have opened seaside resort hotels near the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center, along with resort apartments, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The 9 hotels have boosted the Jordanian side's capacity to 2,800 rooms.

 

On November 22, 2015, the Dead Sea panorama road was included along with 40 archaeological locations in Jordan, to become live on Google Street View.

 

Palestine (West Bank)

The portion of Dead Sea coast which Palestinians could possibly eventually manage is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) long. The World Bank estimates that such Dead Sea tourism industry could generate $290 million of revenues per year and 2,900 jobs. However, Palestinians have been unable to obtain construction permits for tourism-related investments on the Dead Sea. According to the World Bank, officials in the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities state that the only way to apply for such permits is through the Joint Committees established under the Oslo Agreement, but the relevant committee has not met with any degree of regularity since 2000.

 

View of salt evaporation pans on the Dead Sea, taken in 1989 from the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-28). The southern half is separated from the northern half at what used to be the Lisan Peninsula because of the fall in level of the Dead Sea.

 

View of the mineral evaporation ponds almost 12 years later (STS-102). A northern and small southeastern extension were added and the large polygonal ponds subdivided.

 

The dwindling water level of the Dead Sea

In the early part of the 20th century, the Dead Sea began to attract interest from chemists who deduced the sea was a natural deposit of potash (potassium chloride) and bromine. A concession was granted by the British Mandatory government to the newly formed Palestine Potash Company in 1929. Its founder, Siberian Jewish engineer and pioneer of Lake Baikal exploitation, Moses Novomeysky, had worked for the charter for over ten years having first visited the area in 1911. The first plant, on the north shore of the Dead Sea at Kalya, commenced production in 1931 and produced potash by solar evaporation of the brine. Employing Arabs and Jews, it was an island of peace in turbulent times. In 1934 built a second plant on the southwest shore, in the Mount Sodom area, south of the 'Lashon' region of the Dead Sea. Palestine Potash Company supplied half of Britain's potash during World War II. Both plants were destroyed by the Jordanians in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

 

Israel

The Dead Sea Works was founded in 1952 as a state-owned enterprise based on the remnants of the Palestine Potash Company.[68] In 1995, the company was privatized and it is now owned by Israel Chemicals. From the Dead Sea brine, Israel produces (2001) 1.77 million tons potash, 206,000 tons elemental bromine, 44,900 tons caustic soda, 25,000 tons magnesium metal, and sodium chloride. Israeli companies generate around US$3 billion annually from the sale of Dead Sea minerals (primarily potash and bromine), and from other products that are derived from Dead Sea Minerals.

 

Jordan

On the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, Arab Potash (APC), formed in 1956, produces 2.0 million tons of potash annually, as well as sodium chloride and bromine. The plant is located at Safi, South Aghwar Department, in the Karak Governorate.

 

Jordanian Dead Sea mineral industries generate about $1.2 billion in sales (equivalent to 4 percent of Jordan's GDP).

 

West Bank

The Palestinian Dead Sea Coast is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) long. The Palestinian economy is unable to benefit from Dead Sea chemicals due to restricted access, permit issues and the uncertainties of the investment climate. The World Bank estimates that a Palestinian Dead Sea chemicals industry could generate $918M incremental value added per year, "almost equivalent to the contribution of the entire manufacturing sector of Palestinian territories today".

 

Extraction

Both companies, Dead Sea Works Ltd. and Arab Potash, use extensive salt evaporation pans that have essentially diked the entire southern end of the Dead Sea for the purpose of producing carnallite, potassium magnesium chloride, which is then processed further to produce potassium chloride. The ponds are separated by a central dike that runs roughly north–south along the international border. The power plant on the Israeli side allows production of magnesium metal (by a subsidiary, Dead Sea Magnesium Ltd.).

 

Due to the popularity of the sea's therapeutic and healing properties, several companies have also shown interest in the manufacturing and supplying of Dead Sea salts as raw materials for body and skin care products.

 

Recession and environmental concerns

Since 1930, when its surface was 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) and its level was 390 m (1,280 ft) below sea level, the Dead Sea has been monitored continuously. The Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking since the 1960s because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north as part of the National Water Carrier scheme, completed in 1964. The southern end is fed by a canal maintained by the Dead Sea Works, a company that converts the sea's raw materials. From a water surface of 395 m (1,296 ft) below sea level in 1970 it fell 22 m (72 ft) to 418 m (1,371 ft) below sea level in 2006, reaching a drop rate of 1 m (3 ft) per year. As the water level decreases, the characteristics of the Sea and surrounding region may substantially change.

 

The Dead Sea level drop has been followed by a groundwater level drop, causing brines that used to occupy underground layers near the shoreline to be flushed out by freshwater. This is believed to be the cause of the recent appearance of large sinkholes along the western shore—incoming freshwater dissolves salt layers, rapidly creating subsurface cavities that subsequently collapse to form these sinkholes. As of 2021 Ein Gedi, on the western coast, has been subject to a large number of sinkholes appearing in the area, attributed to the decline in the water level of the Dead Sea.

 

As of 2021, the surface of the Sea has shrunk by about 33 percent since the 1960s, which is partly attributed to the much-reduced flow of the Jordan River since the construction of the National Water Carrier project, and the amount of water from the rains reaching the Dead Sea has diminished even further since flash floods started pouring into the sinkholes. The EcoPeace Middle East, a joint Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian environmental group, has estimated that the annual flow into the Dead Sea from the Jordan is as of 2021 less than 100,000,000 cubic metres (3.5×109 cu ft) of water, compared with former flows of between 1,200,000,000 cubic metres (4.2×1010 cu ft) and 1,300,000,000 cubic metres (4.6×1010 cu ft).

 

YearWater level (m)Surface (km2)

1930−3901050

1980−400680

1992−407675

1997−411670

2004−417662

2010−423655

2016−430.5605

Sources: Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haaretz, Jordan Valley Authority.

 

Link to the Red Sea

In May 2009 at the World Economic Forum, Jordan introduced plans for a "Jordan National Red Sea Development Project" (JRSP). This is a plan to convey seawater from the Red Sea near Aqaba to the Dead Sea. Water would be desalinated along the route to provide fresh water to Jordan, with the brine discharge sent to the Dead Sea for replenishment. Israel has expressed its support and will likely benefit from some of the water delivery to its Negev region.

 

At a regional conference in July 2009, officials expressed concern about the declining water levels. Some suggested industrial activities around the Dead Sea might need to be reduced. Others advised environmental measures to restore conditions such as increasing the volume of flow from the Jordan River to replenish the Dead Sea. Currently, only sewage and effluent from fish ponds run in the river's channel. Experts also stressed the need for strict conservation efforts. They said agriculture should not be expanded, sustainable support capabilities should be incorporated into the area and pollution sources should be reduced.

 

In October 2009, the Jordanians accelerated plans to extract around 300 million cubic metres (11 billion cubic feet) of water per year from the Red Sea, desalinate it for use as fresh water and send the waste water to the Dead Sea by tunnel, despite concerns about inadequate time to assess the potential environmental impact. According to Jordan's minister for water, General Maysoun Zu'bi, this project could be considered as the first phase of the Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance.

 

In December 2013, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement for laying a water pipeline to link the Red Sea with the Dead Sea. The pipeline would be 180 km (110 mi) long and is estimated to take up to five years to complete. In January 2015 it was reported that the level of water was dropping by 1 m (3.3 ft) a year.

 

On 27 November 2016, the Jordanian government shortlisted five consortia to implement the project. Jordan's ministry of Water and Irrigation said that the $100 million first phase of the project would begin construction in the first quarter of 2018, and would be completed by 2021. The project was officially abandoned in June 2021, having never broken ground.

The Dead Sea also known by other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

 

As of 2019, the lake's surface is 430.5 metres (1,412 ft) below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth. It is 304 m (997 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34.2% (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water – 9.6 times as salty as the ocean – and has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea's main, northern basin is 50 kilometres (31 mi) long and 15 kilometres (9 mi) wide at its widest point.

 

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean Basin for thousands of years. It was one of the world's first health resorts, and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilisers. Today, tourists visit the sea on its Israeli, Jordanian and West Bank coastlines.

 

The Dead Sea is receding at a swift rate; its surface area today is 605 km2 (234 sq mi), having been 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) in 1930. Multiple canal and pipeline proposals, such as the scrapped Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, have been made to reduce its recession.

 

Names

The English name "Dead Sea" is a calque of the Arabic name Bahr or al-Bahr al-Mayyit itself a calque of earlier Greek (Νεκρά Θάλασσα, Nekrá Thálassa) and Latin names (Mare Mortuum) in reference to the scarcity of aquatic life caused by the lake's extreme salinity. The name also occasionally appears in Hebrew literature as Yām HaMāvet (ים המוות), 'Sea of Death'.

 

The usual biblical and modern Hebrew name for the lake is the Sea of Salt. Other Hebrew names for the lake also mentioned in the Bible are the Sea of Arabah (ים הערבה, Yām Ha‘Ărāvâ) and the Eastern Sea (הים הקדמוני, HaYām HaKadmoni). In Arabic, it is also known as the Sea of Lot (‏بحر لوط‎, Buhayrat, Bahret, or Birket Lut) from the nephew of Abraham whose wife was said to have turned into a pillar of salt during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Less often, it has been known in Arabic as the Sea of Zo'ar from a formerly important city along its shores.

 

Historical English names include the Salt Sea, Lake of Sodom from the biblical account of its destruction and Lake Asphaltites from Greek and Latin. Because of the large volume of ancient trade in the lake's naturally occurring free-floating bitumen, its usual names in ancient Greek and Roman geography were some form of Asphalt Lake (Greek: Ἀσφαλτίτης or Ἀσφαλτίτις Λίμνη, Asphaltítēs or Asphaltítis Límnē; Latin: Lacus Asphaltites) or Sea (Ἀσφαλτίτης Θάλασσα, Asphaltítēs Thálassa).

 

Geography

The Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform (DST). This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the tectonic plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the northern end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end.

 

The Jordan River is the only major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools and quicksand pits along the edges. There are no outlet streams.

 

The Mujib River, biblical Arnon, is one of the larger water sources of the Dead Sea other than the Jordan. The Wadi Mujib valley, 420 m below the sea level in the southern part of the Jordan valley, is a biosphere reserve, with an area of 212 km2 (82 sq mi). Other more substantial sources are Wadi Darajeh (Arabic)/Nahal Dragot (Hebrew), and Nahal Arugot [de] that ends at Ein Gedi. Wadi Hasa (biblical Zered) is another wadi flowing into the Dead Sea.

 

Rainfall is scarcely 100 mm (4 in) per year in the northern part of the Dead Sea and barely 50 mm (2 in) in the southern part. The Dead Sea zone's aridity is due to the rainshadow effect of the Judaean Mountains. The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself.

 

To the west of the Dead Sea, the Judaean mountains rise less steeply and are much lower than the mountains to the east. Along the southwestern side of the lake is a 210 m (700 ft) tall halite mineral formation called Mount Sodom.

 

The salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Palestine's Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

 

Geology

There are two contending hypotheses about the origin of the low elevation of the Dead Sea. The older hypothesis is that the Dead Sea lies in a true rift zone, an extension of the Red Sea Rift, or even of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa. A more recent hypothesis is that the Dead Sea basin is a consequence of a "step-over" discontinuity along the Dead Sea Transform, creating an extension of the crust with consequent subsidence.

 

Sedom Lagoon

During the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene, around 3.7 million years ago,[citation needed] what is now the valley of the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and the northern Wadi Arabah was repeatedly inundated by waters from the Mediterranean Sea. The waters formed in a narrow, crooked bay that is called by geologists the Sedom Lagoon, which was connected to the sea through what is now the Jezreel Valley.[citation needed] The floods of the valley came and went depending on long-scale changes in the tectonic and climatic conditions.

 

The Sedom Lagoon extended at its maximum from the Sea of Galilee in the north to somewhere around 50 km (30 mi) south of the current southern end of the Dead Sea, and the subsequent lakes never surpassed this expanse. The Hula Depression was never part of any of these water bodies due to its higher elevation and the high threshold of the Korazim block separating it from the Sea of Galilee basin.

 

Salt deposits

The Sedom Lagoon deposited evaporites mainly consisting of rock salt, which eventually reached a thickness of 2.3 km (1.43 mi) on the old basin floor in the area of today's Mount Sedom.

 

Lake formation

Approximately two million years ago, the land between the Jordan Rift Valley and the Mediterranean Sea rose to such an extent that the ocean could no longer flood the area. Thus, the long lagoon became a landlocked lake.

 

The first prehistoric lake to follow the Sedom Lagoon is named Lake Amora (which possibly appeared in the early Pleistocene; its sediments developed into the Amora (Samra) Formation, dated to over 200–80 kyr BP), followed by Lake Lisan (c. 70–14 kyr) and finally by the Dead Sea.

 

Lake salinity

The water levels and salinity of the successive lakes (Amora, Lisan, Dead Sea) have either risen or fallen as an effect of the tectonic dropping of the valley bottom, and due to climate variation. As the climate became more arid, Lake Lisan finally shrank and became saltier, leaving the Dead Sea as its last remainder.

 

From 70,000 to 12,000 years ago, Lake Lisan's level was 100 m (330 ft) to 250 m (820 ft) higher than its current level, possibly due to lower evaporation than in the present. Its level fluctuated dramatically, rising to its highest level around 26,000 years ago, indicating a very wet climate in the Near East. Around 10,000 years ago, the lake's level dropped dramatically, probably even lower than today. During the last several thousand years, the lake has fluctuated approximately 400 m (1,300 ft), with some significant drops and rises. Current theories as to the cause of this dramatic drop in levels rule out volcanic activity; therefore, it may have been a seismic event.

 

Salt mounts formation

In prehistoric times,[dubious – discuss] great amounts of sediment collected on the floor of Lake Amora. The sediment was heavier than the salt deposits and squeezed the salt deposits upwards into what are now the Lisan Peninsula and Mount Sodom (on the southwest side of the lake). Geologists explain the effect in terms of a bucket of mud into which a large flat stone is placed, forcing the mud to creep up the sides of the bucket. When the floor of the Dead Sea dropped further due to tectonic forces, the salt mounts of Lisan and Mount Sodom stayed in place as high cliffs (see salt dome).

 

Climate

The Dead Sea has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), with year-round sunny skies and dry air. It has less than 50 millimetres (2 in) mean annual rainfall and a summer average temperature between 32 and 39 °C (90 and 102 °F). Winter average temperatures range between 20 and 23 °C (68 and 73 °F). The region has weaker ultraviolet radiation, particularly the UVB (erythrogenic rays). Given the higher atmospheric pressure, the air has a slightly higher oxygen content (3.3% in summer to 4.8% in winter) as compared to oxygen concentration at sea level. Barometric pressures at the Dead Sea were measured between 1061 and 1065 hPa and clinically compared with health effects at higher altitude. (This barometric measure is about 5% higher than sea level standard atmospheric pressure of 1013.25 hPa, which is the global ocean mean or ATM.) The Dead Sea affects temperatures nearby because of the moderating effect a large body of water has on climate. During the winter, sea temperatures tend to be higher than land temperatures, and vice versa during the summer months. This is the result of the water's mass and specific heat capacity. On average, there are 192 days above 30 °C (86 °F) annually.

 

Chemistry

With 34.2% salinity (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, though Lake Vanda in Antarctica (35%), Lake Assal in Djibouti (34.8%), Lagoon Garabogazköl in the Caspian Sea (up to 35%) and some hypersaline ponds and lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond (44%)) have reported higher salinities.

 

In the 19th century and the early 20th century, the surface layers of the Dead Sea were less salty than today, which resulted in an average density in the range of 1.15-1.17 g/cm3 instead of the present value of around 1.25 g/cm3. A sample tested by Bernays in the 19th century had a salinity of 19%. By the year 1926, the salinity had increased (although it was also suspected that the salinity varies seasonally and depends on the distance from the mouth of the Jordan).

 

Until the winter of 1978–79, when a major mixing event took place, the Dead Sea was composed of two stratified layers of water that differed in temperature, density, age, and salinity. The topmost 35 meters (115 ft) or so of the Dead Sea had an average salinity of about 30%, and a temperature that swung between 19 °C (66 °F) and 37 °C (99 °F). Underneath a zone of transition, the lowest level of the Dead Sea had waters of a consistent 22 °C (72 °F) temperature, salinity of over 34%, and complete saturation of sodium chloride (NaCl). Since the water near the bottom is saturated with NaCl, that salt precipitates out of solution onto the sea floor.

 

Beginning in the 1960s, water inflow to the Dead Sea from the Jordan River was reduced as a result of large-scale irrigation and generally low rainfall. By 1975, the upper water layer was saltier than the lower layer. Nevertheless, the upper layer remained suspended above the lower layer because its waters were warmer and thus less dense. When the upper layer cooled so its density was greater than the lower layer, the waters mixed (1978–79). For the first time in centuries, the lake was a homogeneous body of water. Since then, stratification has begun to redevelop.

 

The mineral content of the Dead Sea is very different from that of ocean water. The exact composition of the Dead Sea water varies mainly with season, depth and temperature. In the early 1980s, the concentration of ionic species (in g/kg) of Dead Sea surface water was Cl− (181.4), Br− (4.2), SO42− (0.4), HCO3− (0.2), Ca2+ (14.1), Na+ (32.5), K+ (6.2) and Mg2+ (35.2). The total salinity was 276 g/kg. These results show that the composition of the salt, as anhydrous chlorides on a weight percentage basis, was calcium chloride (CaCl2) 14.4%, potassium chloride (KCl) 4.4%, magnesium chloride (MgCl2) 50.8% and sodium chloride (NaCl) 30.4%. In comparison, the salt in the water of most oceans and seas is approximately 85% sodium chloride. The concentration of sulfate ions (SO42−) is very low, and the concentration of bromide ions (Br−) is the highest of all waters on Earth.

 

The salt concentration of the Dead Sea fluctuates around 31.5%. This is unusually high and results in a nominal density of 1.24 kg/L. Anyone can easily float in the Dead Sea because of natural buoyancy. In this respect the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah in the United States.

 

An unusual feature of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt. From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles and blocks of the black substance. Asphalt-coated figurines and bitumen-coated Neolithic skulls from archaeological sites have been found. Egyptian mummification processes used asphalt imported from the Dead Sea region.

 

Putative therapies

The Dead Sea area has become a location for health research and potential treatment for several reasons. The mineral content of the water, the low content of pollens and other allergens in the atmosphere, the reduced ultraviolet component of solar radiation, and the higher atmospheric pressure at this great depth each may have specific health effects. For example, persons experiencing reduced respiratory function from diseases such as cystic fibrosis seem to benefit from the increased atmospheric pressure.

 

The region's climate and low elevation have made it a popular center for assessment of putative therapies:

 

Climatotherapy: Treatment which exploits local climatic features such as temperature, humidity, sunshine, barometric pressure and special atmospheric constituents

 

Heliotherapy: Treatment that exploits the biological effects of the sun's radiation

 

Thalassotherapy: Treatment that exploits bathing in Dead Sea water

 

Climatotherapy at the Dead Sea may be a therapy for psoriasis by sunbathing for long periods in the area due to its position below sea level and subsequent result that UV rays are partially blocked by the increased thickness of the atmosphere[citation needed] over the Dead Sea.

 

Rhinosinusitis patients receiving Dead Sea saline nasal irrigation exhibited improved symptom relief compared to standard hypertonic saline spray in one study.

 

Dead Sea mud pack therapy has been suggested to temporarily relieve pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knees. According to researchers of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, treatment with mineral-rich mud compresses can be used to augment conventional medical therapy.

 

Life forms

The sea is called "dead" because its high salinity prevents macroscopic aquatic organisms, such as fish and aquatic plants, from living in it, though minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present.

 

In times of flood, the salt content of the Dead Sea can drop from its usual 35% to 30% or lower. The Dead Sea temporarily comes to life in the wake of rainy winters. In 1980, after one such rainy winter, the normally dark blue Dead Sea turned red. Researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem found the Dead Sea to be teeming with an alga called Dunaliella. Dunaliella in turn nourished carotenoid-containing (red-pigmented) halobacteria, whose presence caused the color change. Since 1980, the Dead Sea basin has been dry and the algae and the bacteria have not returned in measurable numbers.

 

In 2011 a group of scientists from Be'er Sheva, Israel and Germany discovered fissures in the floor of the Dead Sea by scuba diving and observing the surface. These fissures allow fresh and brackish water to enter the Dead Sea. They sampled biofilms surrounding the fissures and discovered numerous species of bacteria and archaea.

 

Fauna and flora around the lake

Many animal species live in the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea. Hikers can see ibex, hares, hyraxes, jackals, foxes, and even leopards. Hundreds of bird species inhabit the zone as well. Both Jordan and Israel have established nature reserves around the Dead Sea.

 

History

The delta of the Jordan River was formerly a jungle of papyrus and palm trees. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus described Jericho as "the most fertile spot in Judea". In Roman and Byzantine times, sugarcane, henna, and sycamore fig all made the lower Jordan valley wealthy. One of the most valuable products produced by Jericho was the sap of the balsam tree, which could be made into perfume. By the 19th century, Jericho's fertility had disappeared.

 

Human settlement

There are several small communities near the Dead Sea. These include Ein Gedi, Neve Zohar and the Israeli settlements in the Megilot Regional Council: Kalya, Mitzpe Shalem and Avnat. There is a nature preserve at Ein Gedi, and several Dead Sea hotels are located on the southwest end at Ein Bokek near Neve Zohar. Highway 90 runs north–south on the Israeli side for a total distance of 565 km (351 mi) from Metula on the Lebanese border in the north to its southern terminus at the Egyptian border near the Red Sea port of Eilat.

 

Potash City is a small community on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, and others including Suweima. Highway 65 runs north–south on the Jordanian side from near Jordan's northern tip down past the Dead Sea to the port of Aqaba.

 

Human history

Dwelling in caves near the Dead Sea is recorded in the Hebrew Bible as having taken place before the Israelites came to Canaan, and extensively at the time of King David.

 

Just northwest of the Dead Sea is Jericho. Somewhere, perhaps on the southeastern shore, would be the cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis which were said to have been destroyed in the time of Abraham: Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) and the three other "Cities of the Plain", Admah, Zeboim and Zoar (Deuteronomy 29:23). Zoar escaped destruction when Abraham's nephew Lot escaped to Zoar from Sodom (Genesis 19:21–22). Before the destruction, the Dead Sea was a valley full of natural tar pits, which was called the vale of Siddim. King David was said to have hidden from Saul at Ein Gedi nearby.

 

In Ezekiel 47:8–9 there is a specific prophecy that the sea will "be healed and made fresh", becoming a normal lake capable of supporting marine life. A similar prophecy is stated in Zechariah 14:8, which says that "living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea [likely the Dead Sea] and half to the western sea [the Mediterranean]."

 

Greek and Roman period

Greek and Jewish writers report that the Nabateans had monopolistic control over the Dead Sea.

 

Archaeological evidence shows multiple anchorages existing on both sides of the sea, including in Ein Gedi, Khirbet Mazin (where the ruins of a Hasmonean-era dry dock are located), Numeira and near Masada.

 

King Herod the Great built or rebuilt several fortresses and palaces on the western bank of the Dead Sea. The most famous was Masada, where in 70 CE a small group of Jewish zealots fled after the fall of the destruction of the Second Temple. The zealots survived until 73 CE, when a siege by the X Legion ended in the deaths by suicide of its 960 inhabitants. Another historically important fortress was Machaerus (מכוור), on the eastern bank, where, according to Josephus, John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas and died.

 

Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink, this would bear out what we have said. They say that this lake is so bitter and salt that no fish live in it and that if you soak clothes in it and shake them it cleans them. — Aristotle, Meteorology

 

Also in Roman times, some Essenes settled on the Dead Sea's western shore; Pliny the Elder identifies their location with the words, "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast ... the town of Engeda" (Natural History, Bk 5.73); and it is therefore a hugely popular but contested hypothesis today, that same Essenes are identical with the settlers at Qumran and that "the Dead Sea Scrolls" discovered during the 20th century in the nearby caves had been their own library.

 

Josephus identified the Dead Sea in geographic proximity to the ancient Biblical city of Sodom. However, he referred to the lake by its Greek name, Asphaltites.

 

Various sects of Jews settled in caves overlooking the Dead Sea. The best known of these are the Essenes of Qumran, who left an extensive library known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The town of Ein Gedi, mentioned many times in the Mishna, produced persimmon for the temple's fragrance and for export, using a secret recipe. "Sodomite salt" was an essential mineral for the temple's holy incense, but was said to be dangerous for home use and could cause blindness. The Roman camps surrounding Masada were built by Jewish slaves receiving water from the towns around the lake. These towns had drinking water from the Ein Feshcha springs and other sweetwater springs in the vicinity.

 

Byzantine period

Intimately connected with the Judean wilderness to its northwest and west, the Dead Sea was a place of escape and refuge. The remoteness of the region attracted Greek Orthodox monks since the Byzantine era. Their monasteries, such as Saint George in Wadi Kelt and Mar Saba in the Judaean Desert, are places of pilgrimage.

 

Modern times

In the 19th century the River Jordan and the Dead Sea were explored by boat primarily by Christopher Costigan in 1835, Thomas Howard Molyneux in 1847, William Francis Lynch in 1848, and John MacGregor in 1869. The full text of W. F. Lynch's 1949 book Narrative of the United States' Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea is available online. Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles travelled along the shores of the Dead Sea already in 1817–18, but didn't navigate on its waters.

 

Explorers and scientists arrived in the area to analyze the minerals and research the unique climate.

 

After the find of the "Moabite Stone" in 1868 on the plateau east of the Dead Sea, Moses Wilhelm Shapira and his partner Salim al-Khouri forged and sold a whole range of presumed "Moabite" antiquities, and in 1883 Shapira presented what is now known as the "Shapira Strips", a supposedly ancient scroll written on leather strips which he claimed had been found near the Dead Sea. The strips were declared to be forgeries and Shapira took his own life in disgrace.

 

The 1922 census of Palestine lists 100 people (68 Muslims and 32 Christians) with "Dead Sea & Jordan" as their main locality. The 1931 census shows a sharp increase with 535 people (264 Muslims, 230 Jews, 21 Christians, 17 Druze, and three with no religion) listing "Dead Sea" as their main village/town. The 1938 nor 1945 village statistics does not give a number for the general Dead Sea area.

 

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, hundreds of religious documents dated between 150 BCE and 70 CE were found in caves near the ancient settlement of Qumran, about one mile (1.6 kilometres) inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea (presently in the West Bank). They became known and famous as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

The world's lowest roads, Highway 90, run along the Israeli and West Bank shores of the Dead Sea, along with Highway 65 on the Jordanian side, at 393 m (1,289 ft) below sea level.

 

Tourism and leisure

A golf course named for Sodom and Gomorrah was built by the British at Kalia on the northern shore.

 

Israel

The first major Israeli hotels were built in nearby Arad, and since the 1960s at the Ein Bokek resort complex.

 

Israel has 15 hotels along the Dead Sea shore, generating total revenues of $291 million in 2012. Most Israeli hotels and resorts on the Dead Sea are on a six-kilometre (3.7-mile) stretch of the southern shore.

 

Jordan

On the Jordanian side, nine international franchises have opened seaside resort hotels near the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center, along with resort apartments, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The 9 hotels have boosted the Jordanian side's capacity to 2,800 rooms.

 

On November 22, 2015, the Dead Sea panorama road was included along with 40 archaeological locations in Jordan, to become live on Google Street View.

 

Palestine (West Bank)

The portion of Dead Sea coast which Palestinians could possibly eventually manage is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) long. The World Bank estimates that such Dead Sea tourism industry could generate $290 million of revenues per year and 2,900 jobs. However, Palestinians have been unable to obtain construction permits for tourism-related investments on the Dead Sea. According to the World Bank, officials in the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities state that the only way to apply for such permits is through the Joint Committees established under the Oslo Agreement, but the relevant committee has not met with any degree of regularity since 2000.

 

View of salt evaporation pans on the Dead Sea, taken in 1989 from the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-28). The southern half is separated from the northern half at what used to be the Lisan Peninsula because of the fall in level of the Dead Sea.

 

View of the mineral evaporation ponds almost 12 years later (STS-102). A northern and small southeastern extension were added and the large polygonal ponds subdivided.

 

The dwindling water level of the Dead Sea

In the early part of the 20th century, the Dead Sea began to attract interest from chemists who deduced the sea was a natural deposit of potash (potassium chloride) and bromine. A concession was granted by the British Mandatory government to the newly formed Palestine Potash Company in 1929. Its founder, Siberian Jewish engineer and pioneer of Lake Baikal exploitation, Moses Novomeysky, had worked for the charter for over ten years having first visited the area in 1911. The first plant, on the north shore of the Dead Sea at Kalya, commenced production in 1931 and produced potash by solar evaporation of the brine. Employing Arabs and Jews, it was an island of peace in turbulent times. In 1934 built a second plant on the southwest shore, in the Mount Sodom area, south of the 'Lashon' region of the Dead Sea. Palestine Potash Company supplied half of Britain's potash during World War II. Both plants were destroyed by the Jordanians in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

 

Israel

The Dead Sea Works was founded in 1952 as a state-owned enterprise based on the remnants of the Palestine Potash Company.[68] In 1995, the company was privatized and it is now owned by Israel Chemicals. From the Dead Sea brine, Israel produces (2001) 1.77 million tons potash, 206,000 tons elemental bromine, 44,900 tons caustic soda, 25,000 tons magnesium metal, and sodium chloride. Israeli companies generate around US$3 billion annually from the sale of Dead Sea minerals (primarily potash and bromine), and from other products that are derived from Dead Sea Minerals.

 

Jordan

On the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, Arab Potash (APC), formed in 1956, produces 2.0 million tons of potash annually, as well as sodium chloride and bromine. The plant is located at Safi, South Aghwar Department, in the Karak Governorate.

 

Jordanian Dead Sea mineral industries generate about $1.2 billion in sales (equivalent to 4 percent of Jordan's GDP).

 

West Bank

The Palestinian Dead Sea Coast is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) long. The Palestinian economy is unable to benefit from Dead Sea chemicals due to restricted access, permit issues and the uncertainties of the investment climate. The World Bank estimates that a Palestinian Dead Sea chemicals industry could generate $918M incremental value added per year, "almost equivalent to the contribution of the entire manufacturing sector of Palestinian territories today".

 

Extraction

Both companies, Dead Sea Works Ltd. and Arab Potash, use extensive salt evaporation pans that have essentially diked the entire southern end of the Dead Sea for the purpose of producing carnallite, potassium magnesium chloride, which is then processed further to produce potassium chloride. The ponds are separated by a central dike that runs roughly north–south along the international border. The power plant on the Israeli side allows production of magnesium metal (by a subsidiary, Dead Sea Magnesium Ltd.).

 

Due to the popularity of the sea's therapeutic and healing properties, several companies have also shown interest in the manufacturing and supplying of Dead Sea salts as raw materials for body and skin care products.

 

Recession and environmental concerns

Since 1930, when its surface was 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) and its level was 390 m (1,280 ft) below sea level, the Dead Sea has been monitored continuously. The Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking since the 1960s because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north as part of the National Water Carrier scheme, completed in 1964. The southern end is fed by a canal maintained by the Dead Sea Works, a company that converts the sea's raw materials. From a water surface of 395 m (1,296 ft) below sea level in 1970 it fell 22 m (72 ft) to 418 m (1,371 ft) below sea level in 2006, reaching a drop rate of 1 m (3 ft) per year. As the water level decreases, the characteristics of the Sea and surrounding region may substantially change.

 

The Dead Sea level drop has been followed by a groundwater level drop, causing brines that used to occupy underground layers near the shoreline to be flushed out by freshwater. This is believed to be the cause of the recent appearance of large sinkholes along the western shore—incoming freshwater dissolves salt layers, rapidly creating subsurface cavities that subsequently collapse to form these sinkholes. As of 2021 Ein Gedi, on the western coast, has been subject to a large number of sinkholes appearing in the area, attributed to the decline in the water level of the Dead Sea.

 

As of 2021, the surface of the Sea has shrunk by about 33 percent since the 1960s, which is partly attributed to the much-reduced flow of the Jordan River since the construction of the National Water Carrier project, and the amount of water from the rains reaching the Dead Sea has diminished even further since flash floods started pouring into the sinkholes. The EcoPeace Middle East, a joint Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian environmental group, has estimated that the annual flow into the Dead Sea from the Jordan is as of 2021 less than 100,000,000 cubic metres (3.5×109 cu ft) of water, compared with former flows of between 1,200,000,000 cubic metres (4.2×1010 cu ft) and 1,300,000,000 cubic metres (4.6×1010 cu ft).

 

YearWater level (m)Surface (km2)

1930−3901050

1980−400680

1992−407675

1997−411670

2004−417662

2010−423655

2016−430.5605

Sources: Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haaretz, Jordan Valley Authority.

 

Link to the Red Sea

In May 2009 at the World Economic Forum, Jordan introduced plans for a "Jordan National Red Sea Development Project" (JRSP). This is a plan to convey seawater from the Red Sea near Aqaba to the Dead Sea. Water would be desalinated along the route to provide fresh water to Jordan, with the brine discharge sent to the Dead Sea for replenishment. Israel has expressed its support and will likely benefit from some of the water delivery to its Negev region.

 

At a regional conference in July 2009, officials expressed concern about the declining water levels. Some suggested industrial activities around the Dead Sea might need to be reduced. Others advised environmental measures to restore conditions such as increasing the volume of flow from the Jordan River to replenish the Dead Sea. Currently, only sewage and effluent from fish ponds run in the river's channel. Experts also stressed the need for strict conservation efforts. They said agriculture should not be expanded, sustainable support capabilities should be incorporated into the area and pollution sources should be reduced.

 

In October 2009, the Jordanians accelerated plans to extract around 300 million cubic metres (11 billion cubic feet) of water per year from the Red Sea, desalinate it for use as fresh water and send the waste water to the Dead Sea by tunnel, despite concerns about inadequate time to assess the potential environmental impact. According to Jordan's minister for water, General Maysoun Zu'bi, this project could be considered as the first phase of the Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance.

 

In December 2013, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement for laying a water pipeline to link the Red Sea with the Dead Sea. The pipeline would be 180 km (110 mi) long and is estimated to take up to five years to complete. In January 2015 it was reported that the level of water was dropping by 1 m (3.3 ft) a year.

 

On 27 November 2016, the Jordanian government shortlisted five consortia to implement the project. Jordan's ministry of Water and Irrigation said that the $100 million first phase of the project would begin construction in the first quarter of 2018, and would be completed by 2021. The project was officially abandoned in June 2021, having never broken ground.

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

The Dead Sea also known by other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

 

As of 2019, the lake's surface is 430.5 metres (1,412 ft) below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth. It is 304 m (997 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34.2% (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water – 9.6 times as salty as the ocean – and has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea's main, northern basin is 50 kilometres (31 mi) long and 15 kilometres (9 mi) wide at its widest point.

 

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean Basin for thousands of years. It was one of the world's first health resorts, and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilisers. Today, tourists visit the sea on its Israeli, Jordanian and West Bank coastlines.

 

The Dead Sea is receding at a swift rate; its surface area today is 605 km2 (234 sq mi), having been 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) in 1930. Multiple canal and pipeline proposals, such as the scrapped Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, have been made to reduce its recession.

 

Names

The English name "Dead Sea" is a calque of the Arabic name Bahr or al-Bahr al-Mayyit itself a calque of earlier Greek (Νεκρά Θάλασσα, Nekrá Thálassa) and Latin names (Mare Mortuum) in reference to the scarcity of aquatic life caused by the lake's extreme salinity. The name also occasionally appears in Hebrew literature as Yām HaMāvet (ים המוות), 'Sea of Death'.

 

The usual biblical and modern Hebrew name for the lake is the Sea of Salt. Other Hebrew names for the lake also mentioned in the Bible are the Sea of Arabah (ים הערבה, Yām Ha‘Ărāvâ) and the Eastern Sea (הים הקדמוני, HaYām HaKadmoni). In Arabic, it is also known as the Sea of Lot (‏بحر لوط‎, Buhayrat, Bahret, or Birket Lut) from the nephew of Abraham whose wife was said to have turned into a pillar of salt during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Less often, it has been known in Arabic as the Sea of Zo'ar from a formerly important city along its shores.

 

Historical English names include the Salt Sea, Lake of Sodom from the biblical account of its destruction and Lake Asphaltites from Greek and Latin. Because of the large volume of ancient trade in the lake's naturally occurring free-floating bitumen, its usual names in ancient Greek and Roman geography were some form of Asphalt Lake (Greek: Ἀσφαλτίτης or Ἀσφαλτίτις Λίμνη, Asphaltítēs or Asphaltítis Límnē; Latin: Lacus Asphaltites) or Sea (Ἀσφαλτίτης Θάλασσα, Asphaltítēs Thálassa).

 

Geography

The Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform (DST). This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the tectonic plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the northern end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end.

 

The Jordan River is the only major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools and quicksand pits along the edges. There are no outlet streams.

 

The Mujib River, biblical Arnon, is one of the larger water sources of the Dead Sea other than the Jordan. The Wadi Mujib valley, 420 m below the sea level in the southern part of the Jordan valley, is a biosphere reserve, with an area of 212 km2 (82 sq mi). Other more substantial sources are Wadi Darajeh (Arabic)/Nahal Dragot (Hebrew), and Nahal Arugot [de] that ends at Ein Gedi. Wadi Hasa (biblical Zered) is another wadi flowing into the Dead Sea.

 

Rainfall is scarcely 100 mm (4 in) per year in the northern part of the Dead Sea and barely 50 mm (2 in) in the southern part. The Dead Sea zone's aridity is due to the rainshadow effect of the Judaean Mountains. The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself.

 

To the west of the Dead Sea, the Judaean mountains rise less steeply and are much lower than the mountains to the east. Along the southwestern side of the lake is a 210 m (700 ft) tall halite mineral formation called Mount Sodom.

 

The salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Palestine's Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

 

Geology

There are two contending hypotheses about the origin of the low elevation of the Dead Sea. The older hypothesis is that the Dead Sea lies in a true rift zone, an extension of the Red Sea Rift, or even of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa. A more recent hypothesis is that the Dead Sea basin is a consequence of a "step-over" discontinuity along the Dead Sea Transform, creating an extension of the crust with consequent subsidence.

 

Sedom Lagoon

During the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene, around 3.7 million years ago,[citation needed] what is now the valley of the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and the northern Wadi Arabah was repeatedly inundated by waters from the Mediterranean Sea. The waters formed in a narrow, crooked bay that is called by geologists the Sedom Lagoon, which was connected to the sea through what is now the Jezreel Valley.[citation needed] The floods of the valley came and went depending on long-scale changes in the tectonic and climatic conditions.

 

The Sedom Lagoon extended at its maximum from the Sea of Galilee in the north to somewhere around 50 km (30 mi) south of the current southern end of the Dead Sea, and the subsequent lakes never surpassed this expanse. The Hula Depression was never part of any of these water bodies due to its higher elevation and the high threshold of the Korazim block separating it from the Sea of Galilee basin.

 

Salt deposits

The Sedom Lagoon deposited evaporites mainly consisting of rock salt, which eventually reached a thickness of 2.3 km (1.43 mi) on the old basin floor in the area of today's Mount Sedom.

 

Lake formation

Approximately two million years ago, the land between the Jordan Rift Valley and the Mediterranean Sea rose to such an extent that the ocean could no longer flood the area. Thus, the long lagoon became a landlocked lake.

 

The first prehistoric lake to follow the Sedom Lagoon is named Lake Amora (which possibly appeared in the early Pleistocene; its sediments developed into the Amora (Samra) Formation, dated to over 200–80 kyr BP), followed by Lake Lisan (c. 70–14 kyr) and finally by the Dead Sea.

 

Lake salinity

The water levels and salinity of the successive lakes (Amora, Lisan, Dead Sea) have either risen or fallen as an effect of the tectonic dropping of the valley bottom, and due to climate variation. As the climate became more arid, Lake Lisan finally shrank and became saltier, leaving the Dead Sea as its last remainder.

 

From 70,000 to 12,000 years ago, Lake Lisan's level was 100 m (330 ft) to 250 m (820 ft) higher than its current level, possibly due to lower evaporation than in the present. Its level fluctuated dramatically, rising to its highest level around 26,000 years ago, indicating a very wet climate in the Near East. Around 10,000 years ago, the lake's level dropped dramatically, probably even lower than today. During the last several thousand years, the lake has fluctuated approximately 400 m (1,300 ft), with some significant drops and rises. Current theories as to the cause of this dramatic drop in levels rule out volcanic activity; therefore, it may have been a seismic event.

 

Salt mounts formation

In prehistoric times,[dubious – discuss] great amounts of sediment collected on the floor of Lake Amora. The sediment was heavier than the salt deposits and squeezed the salt deposits upwards into what are now the Lisan Peninsula and Mount Sodom (on the southwest side of the lake). Geologists explain the effect in terms of a bucket of mud into which a large flat stone is placed, forcing the mud to creep up the sides of the bucket. When the floor of the Dead Sea dropped further due to tectonic forces, the salt mounts of Lisan and Mount Sodom stayed in place as high cliffs (see salt dome).

 

Climate

The Dead Sea has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), with year-round sunny skies and dry air. It has less than 50 millimetres (2 in) mean annual rainfall and a summer average temperature between 32 and 39 °C (90 and 102 °F). Winter average temperatures range between 20 and 23 °C (68 and 73 °F). The region has weaker ultraviolet radiation, particularly the UVB (erythrogenic rays). Given the higher atmospheric pressure, the air has a slightly higher oxygen content (3.3% in summer to 4.8% in winter) as compared to oxygen concentration at sea level. Barometric pressures at the Dead Sea were measured between 1061 and 1065 hPa and clinically compared with health effects at higher altitude. (This barometric measure is about 5% higher than sea level standard atmospheric pressure of 1013.25 hPa, which is the global ocean mean or ATM.) The Dead Sea affects temperatures nearby because of the moderating effect a large body of water has on climate. During the winter, sea temperatures tend to be higher than land temperatures, and vice versa during the summer months. This is the result of the water's mass and specific heat capacity. On average, there are 192 days above 30 °C (86 °F) annually.

 

Chemistry

With 34.2% salinity (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, though Lake Vanda in Antarctica (35%), Lake Assal in Djibouti (34.8%), Lagoon Garabogazköl in the Caspian Sea (up to 35%) and some hypersaline ponds and lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond (44%)) have reported higher salinities.

 

In the 19th century and the early 20th century, the surface layers of the Dead Sea were less salty than today, which resulted in an average density in the range of 1.15-1.17 g/cm3 instead of the present value of around 1.25 g/cm3. A sample tested by Bernays in the 19th century had a salinity of 19%. By the year 1926, the salinity had increased (although it was also suspected that the salinity varies seasonally and depends on the distance from the mouth of the Jordan).

 

Until the winter of 1978–79, when a major mixing event took place, the Dead Sea was composed of two stratified layers of water that differed in temperature, density, age, and salinity. The topmost 35 meters (115 ft) or so of the Dead Sea had an average salinity of about 30%, and a temperature that swung between 19 °C (66 °F) and 37 °C (99 °F). Underneath a zone of transition, the lowest level of the Dead Sea had waters of a consistent 22 °C (72 °F) temperature, salinity of over 34%, and complete saturation of sodium chloride (NaCl). Since the water near the bottom is saturated with NaCl, that salt precipitates out of solution onto the sea floor.

 

Beginning in the 1960s, water inflow to the Dead Sea from the Jordan River was reduced as a result of large-scale irrigation and generally low rainfall. By 1975, the upper water layer was saltier than the lower layer. Nevertheless, the upper layer remained suspended above the lower layer because its waters were warmer and thus less dense. When the upper layer cooled so its density was greater than the lower layer, the waters mixed (1978–79). For the first time in centuries, the lake was a homogeneous body of water. Since then, stratification has begun to redevelop.

 

The mineral content of the Dead Sea is very different from that of ocean water. The exact composition of the Dead Sea water varies mainly with season, depth and temperature. In the early 1980s, the concentration of ionic species (in g/kg) of Dead Sea surface water was Cl− (181.4), Br− (4.2), SO42− (0.4), HCO3− (0.2), Ca2+ (14.1), Na+ (32.5), K+ (6.2) and Mg2+ (35.2). The total salinity was 276 g/kg. These results show that the composition of the salt, as anhydrous chlorides on a weight percentage basis, was calcium chloride (CaCl2) 14.4%, potassium chloride (KCl) 4.4%, magnesium chloride (MgCl2) 50.8% and sodium chloride (NaCl) 30.4%. In comparison, the salt in the water of most oceans and seas is approximately 85% sodium chloride. The concentration of sulfate ions (SO42−) is very low, and the concentration of bromide ions (Br−) is the highest of all waters on Earth.

 

The salt concentration of the Dead Sea fluctuates around 31.5%. This is unusually high and results in a nominal density of 1.24 kg/L. Anyone can easily float in the Dead Sea because of natural buoyancy. In this respect the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah in the United States.

 

An unusual feature of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt. From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles and blocks of the black substance. Asphalt-coated figurines and bitumen-coated Neolithic skulls from archaeological sites have been found. Egyptian mummification processes used asphalt imported from the Dead Sea region.

 

Putative therapies

The Dead Sea area has become a location for health research and potential treatment for several reasons. The mineral content of the water, the low content of pollens and other allergens in the atmosphere, the reduced ultraviolet component of solar radiation, and the higher atmospheric pressure at this great depth each may have specific health effects. For example, persons experiencing reduced respiratory function from diseases such as cystic fibrosis seem to benefit from the increased atmospheric pressure.

 

The region's climate and low elevation have made it a popular center for assessment of putative therapies:

 

Climatotherapy: Treatment which exploits local climatic features such as temperature, humidity, sunshine, barometric pressure and special atmospheric constituents

 

Heliotherapy: Treatment that exploits the biological effects of the sun's radiation

 

Thalassotherapy: Treatment that exploits bathing in Dead Sea water

 

Climatotherapy at the Dead Sea may be a therapy for psoriasis by sunbathing for long periods in the area due to its position below sea level and subsequent result that UV rays are partially blocked by the increased thickness of the atmosphere[citation needed] over the Dead Sea.

 

Rhinosinusitis patients receiving Dead Sea saline nasal irrigation exhibited improved symptom relief compared to standard hypertonic saline spray in one study.

 

Dead Sea mud pack therapy has been suggested to temporarily relieve pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knees. According to researchers of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, treatment with mineral-rich mud compresses can be used to augment conventional medical therapy.

 

Life forms

The sea is called "dead" because its high salinity prevents macroscopic aquatic organisms, such as fish and aquatic plants, from living in it, though minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present.

 

In times of flood, the salt content of the Dead Sea can drop from its usual 35% to 30% or lower. The Dead Sea temporarily comes to life in the wake of rainy winters. In 1980, after one such rainy winter, the normally dark blue Dead Sea turned red. Researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem found the Dead Sea to be teeming with an alga called Dunaliella. Dunaliella in turn nourished carotenoid-containing (red-pigmented) halobacteria, whose presence caused the color change. Since 1980, the Dead Sea basin has been dry and the algae and the bacteria have not returned in measurable numbers.

 

In 2011 a group of scientists from Be'er Sheva, Israel and Germany discovered fissures in the floor of the Dead Sea by scuba diving and observing the surface. These fissures allow fresh and brackish water to enter the Dead Sea. They sampled biofilms surrounding the fissures and discovered numerous species of bacteria and archaea.

 

Fauna and flora around the lake

Many animal species live in the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea. Hikers can see ibex, hares, hyraxes, jackals, foxes, and even leopards. Hundreds of bird species inhabit the zone as well. Both Jordan and Israel have established nature reserves around the Dead Sea.

 

History

The delta of the Jordan River was formerly a jungle of papyrus and palm trees. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus described Jericho as "the most fertile spot in Judea". In Roman and Byzantine times, sugarcane, henna, and sycamore fig all made the lower Jordan valley wealthy. One of the most valuable products produced by Jericho was the sap of the balsam tree, which could be made into perfume. By the 19th century, Jericho's fertility had disappeared.

 

Human settlement

There are several small communities near the Dead Sea. These include Ein Gedi, Neve Zohar and the Israeli settlements in the Megilot Regional Council: Kalya, Mitzpe Shalem and Avnat. There is a nature preserve at Ein Gedi, and several Dead Sea hotels are located on the southwest end at Ein Bokek near Neve Zohar. Highway 90 runs north–south on the Israeli side for a total distance of 565 km (351 mi) from Metula on the Lebanese border in the north to its southern terminus at the Egyptian border near the Red Sea port of Eilat.

 

Potash City is a small community on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, and others including Suweima. Highway 65 runs north–south on the Jordanian side from near Jordan's northern tip down past the Dead Sea to the port of Aqaba.

 

Human history

Dwelling in caves near the Dead Sea is recorded in the Hebrew Bible as having taken place before the Israelites came to Canaan, and extensively at the time of King David.

 

Just northwest of the Dead Sea is Jericho. Somewhere, perhaps on the southeastern shore, would be the cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis which were said to have been destroyed in the time of Abraham: Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) and the three other "Cities of the Plain", Admah, Zeboim and Zoar (Deuteronomy 29:23). Zoar escaped destruction when Abraham's nephew Lot escaped to Zoar from Sodom (Genesis 19:21–22). Before the destruction, the Dead Sea was a valley full of natural tar pits, which was called the vale of Siddim. King David was said to have hidden from Saul at Ein Gedi nearby.

 

In Ezekiel 47:8–9 there is a specific prophecy that the sea will "be healed and made fresh", becoming a normal lake capable of supporting marine life. A similar prophecy is stated in Zechariah 14:8, which says that "living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea [likely the Dead Sea] and half to the western sea [the Mediterranean]."

 

Greek and Roman period

Greek and Jewish writers report that the Nabateans had monopolistic control over the Dead Sea.

 

Archaeological evidence shows multiple anchorages existing on both sides of the sea, including in Ein Gedi, Khirbet Mazin (where the ruins of a Hasmonean-era dry dock are located), Numeira and near Masada.

 

King Herod the Great built or rebuilt several fortresses and palaces on the western bank of the Dead Sea. The most famous was Masada, where in 70 CE a small group of Jewish zealots fled after the fall of the destruction of the Second Temple. The zealots survived until 73 CE, when a siege by the X Legion ended in the deaths by suicide of its 960 inhabitants. Another historically important fortress was Machaerus (מכוור), on the eastern bank, where, according to Josephus, John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas and died.

 

Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink, this would bear out what we have said. They say that this lake is so bitter and salt that no fish live in it and that if you soak clothes in it and shake them it cleans them. — Aristotle, Meteorology

 

Also in Roman times, some Essenes settled on the Dead Sea's western shore; Pliny the Elder identifies their location with the words, "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast ... the town of Engeda" (Natural History, Bk 5.73); and it is therefore a hugely popular but contested hypothesis today, that same Essenes are identical with the settlers at Qumran and that "the Dead Sea Scrolls" discovered during the 20th century in the nearby caves had been their own library.

 

Josephus identified the Dead Sea in geographic proximity to the ancient Biblical city of Sodom. However, he referred to the lake by its Greek name, Asphaltites.

 

Various sects of Jews settled in caves overlooking the Dead Sea. The best known of these are the Essenes of Qumran, who left an extensive library known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The town of Ein Gedi, mentioned many times in the Mishna, produced persimmon for the temple's fragrance and for export, using a secret recipe. "Sodomite salt" was an essential mineral for the temple's holy incense, but was said to be dangerous for home use and could cause blindness. The Roman camps surrounding Masada were built by Jewish slaves receiving water from the towns around the lake. These towns had drinking water from the Ein Feshcha springs and other sweetwater springs in the vicinity.

 

Byzantine period

Intimately connected with the Judean wilderness to its northwest and west, the Dead Sea was a place of escape and refuge. The remoteness of the region attracted Greek Orthodox monks since the Byzantine era. Their monasteries, such as Saint George in Wadi Kelt and Mar Saba in the Judaean Desert, are places of pilgrimage.

 

Modern times

In the 19th century the River Jordan and the Dead Sea were explored by boat primarily by Christopher Costigan in 1835, Thomas Howard Molyneux in 1847, William Francis Lynch in 1848, and John MacGregor in 1869. The full text of W. F. Lynch's 1949 book Narrative of the United States' Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea is available online. Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles travelled along the shores of the Dead Sea already in 1817–18, but didn't navigate on its waters.

 

Explorers and scientists arrived in the area to analyze the minerals and research the unique climate.

 

After the find of the "Moabite Stone" in 1868 on the plateau east of the Dead Sea, Moses Wilhelm Shapira and his partner Salim al-Khouri forged and sold a whole range of presumed "Moabite" antiquities, and in 1883 Shapira presented what is now known as the "Shapira Strips", a supposedly ancient scroll written on leather strips which he claimed had been found near the Dead Sea. The strips were declared to be forgeries and Shapira took his own life in disgrace.

 

The 1922 census of Palestine lists 100 people (68 Muslims and 32 Christians) with "Dead Sea & Jordan" as their main locality. The 1931 census shows a sharp increase with 535 people (264 Muslims, 230 Jews, 21 Christians, 17 Druze, and three with no religion) listing "Dead Sea" as their main village/town. The 1938 nor 1945 village statistics does not give a number for the general Dead Sea area.

 

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, hundreds of religious documents dated between 150 BCE and 70 CE were found in caves near the ancient settlement of Qumran, about one mile (1.6 kilometres) inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea (presently in the West Bank). They became known and famous as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

The world's lowest roads, Highway 90, run along the Israeli and West Bank shores of the Dead Sea, along with Highway 65 on the Jordanian side, at 393 m (1,289 ft) below sea level.

 

Tourism and leisure

A golf course named for Sodom and Gomorrah was built by the British at Kalia on the northern shore.

 

Israel

The first major Israeli hotels were built in nearby Arad, and since the 1960s at the Ein Bokek resort complex.

 

Israel has 15 hotels along the Dead Sea shore, generating total revenues of $291 million in 2012. Most Israeli hotels and resorts on the Dead Sea are on a six-kilometre (3.7-mile) stretch of the southern shore.

 

Jordan

On the Jordanian side, nine international franchises have opened seaside resort hotels near the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center, along with resort apartments, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The 9 hotels have boosted the Jordanian side's capacity to 2,800 rooms.

 

On November 22, 2015, the Dead Sea panorama road was included along with 40 archaeological locations in Jordan, to become live on Google Street View.

 

Palestine (West Bank)

The portion of Dead Sea coast which Palestinians could possibly eventually manage is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) long. The World Bank estimates that such Dead Sea tourism industry could generate $290 million of revenues per year and 2,900 jobs. However, Palestinians have been unable to obtain construction permits for tourism-related investments on the Dead Sea. According to the World Bank, officials in the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities state that the only way to apply for such permits is through the Joint Committees established under the Oslo Agreement, but the relevant committee has not met with any degree of regularity since 2000.

 

View of salt evaporation pans on the Dead Sea, taken in 1989 from the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-28). The southern half is separated from the northern half at what used to be the Lisan Peninsula because of the fall in level of the Dead Sea.

 

View of the mineral evaporation ponds almost 12 years later (STS-102). A northern and small southeastern extension were added and the large polygonal ponds subdivided.

 

The dwindling water level of the Dead Sea

In the early part of the 20th century, the Dead Sea began to attract interest from chemists who deduced the sea was a natural deposit of potash (potassium chloride) and bromine. A concession was granted by the British Mandatory government to the newly formed Palestine Potash Company in 1929. Its founder, Siberian Jewish engineer and pioneer of Lake Baikal exploitation, Moses Novomeysky, had worked for the charter for over ten years having first visited the area in 1911. The first plant, on the north shore of the Dead Sea at Kalya, commenced production in 1931 and produced potash by solar evaporation of the brine. Employing Arabs and Jews, it was an island of peace in turbulent times. In 1934 built a second plant on the southwest shore, in the Mount Sodom area, south of the 'Lashon' region of the Dead Sea. Palestine Potash Company supplied half of Britain's potash during World War II. Both plants were destroyed by the Jordanians in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

 

Israel

The Dead Sea Works was founded in 1952 as a state-owned enterprise based on the remnants of the Palestine Potash Company.[68] In 1995, the company was privatized and it is now owned by Israel Chemicals. From the Dead Sea brine, Israel produces (2001) 1.77 million tons potash, 206,000 tons elemental bromine, 44,900 tons caustic soda, 25,000 tons magnesium metal, and sodium chloride. Israeli companies generate around US$3 billion annually from the sale of Dead Sea minerals (primarily potash and bromine), and from other products that are derived from Dead Sea Minerals.

 

Jordan

On the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, Arab Potash (APC), formed in 1956, produces 2.0 million tons of potash annually, as well as sodium chloride and bromine. The plant is located at Safi, South Aghwar Department, in the Karak Governorate.

 

Jordanian Dead Sea mineral industries generate about $1.2 billion in sales (equivalent to 4 percent of Jordan's GDP).

 

West Bank

The Palestinian Dead Sea Coast is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) long. The Palestinian economy is unable to benefit from Dead Sea chemicals due to restricted access, permit issues and the uncertainties of the investment climate. The World Bank estimates that a Palestinian Dead Sea chemicals industry could generate $918M incremental value added per year, "almost equivalent to the contribution of the entire manufacturing sector of Palestinian territories today".

 

Extraction

Both companies, Dead Sea Works Ltd. and Arab Potash, use extensive salt evaporation pans that have essentially diked the entire southern end of the Dead Sea for the purpose of producing carnallite, potassium magnesium chloride, which is then processed further to produce potassium chloride. The ponds are separated by a central dike that runs roughly north–south along the international border. The power plant on the Israeli side allows production of magnesium metal (by a subsidiary, Dead Sea Magnesium Ltd.).

 

Due to the popularity of the sea's therapeutic and healing properties, several companies have also shown interest in the manufacturing and supplying of Dead Sea salts as raw materials for body and skin care products.

 

Recession and environmental concerns

Since 1930, when its surface was 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) and its level was 390 m (1,280 ft) below sea level, the Dead Sea has been monitored continuously. The Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking since the 1960s because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north as part of the National Water Carrier scheme, completed in 1964. The southern end is fed by a canal maintained by the Dead Sea Works, a company that converts the sea's raw materials. From a water surface of 395 m (1,296 ft) below sea level in 1970 it fell 22 m (72 ft) to 418 m (1,371 ft) below sea level in 2006, reaching a drop rate of 1 m (3 ft) per year. As the water level decreases, the characteristics of the Sea and surrounding region may substantially change.

 

The Dead Sea level drop has been followed by a groundwater level drop, causing brines that used to occupy underground layers near the shoreline to be flushed out by freshwater. This is believed to be the cause of the recent appearance of large sinkholes along the western shore—incoming freshwater dissolves salt layers, rapidly creating subsurface cavities that subsequently collapse to form these sinkholes. As of 2021 Ein Gedi, on the western coast, has been subject to a large number of sinkholes appearing in the area, attributed to the decline in the water level of the Dead Sea.

 

As of 2021, the surface of the Sea has shrunk by about 33 percent since the 1960s, which is partly attributed to the much-reduced flow of the Jordan River since the construction of the National Water Carrier project, and the amount of water from the rains reaching the Dead Sea has diminished even further since flash floods started pouring into the sinkholes. The EcoPeace Middle East, a joint Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian environmental group, has estimated that the annual flow into the Dead Sea from the Jordan is as of 2021 less than 100,000,000 cubic metres (3.5×109 cu ft) of water, compared with former flows of between 1,200,000,000 cubic metres (4.2×1010 cu ft) and 1,300,000,000 cubic metres (4.6×1010 cu ft).

 

YearWater level (m)Surface (km2)

1930−3901050

1980−400680

1992−407675

1997−411670

2004−417662

2010−423655

2016−430.5605

Sources: Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haaretz, Jordan Valley Authority.

 

Link to the Red Sea

In May 2009 at the World Economic Forum, Jordan introduced plans for a "Jordan National Red Sea Development Project" (JRSP). This is a plan to convey seawater from the Red Sea near Aqaba to the Dead Sea. Water would be desalinated along the route to provide fresh water to Jordan, with the brine discharge sent to the Dead Sea for replenishment. Israel has expressed its support and will likely benefit from some of the water delivery to its Negev region.

 

At a regional conference in July 2009, officials expressed concern about the declining water levels. Some suggested industrial activities around the Dead Sea might need to be reduced. Others advised environmental measures to restore conditions such as increasing the volume of flow from the Jordan River to replenish the Dead Sea. Currently, only sewage and effluent from fish ponds run in the river's channel. Experts also stressed the need for strict conservation efforts. They said agriculture should not be expanded, sustainable support capabilities should be incorporated into the area and pollution sources should be reduced.

 

In October 2009, the Jordanians accelerated plans to extract around 300 million cubic metres (11 billion cubic feet) of water per year from the Red Sea, desalinate it for use as fresh water and send the waste water to the Dead Sea by tunnel, despite concerns about inadequate time to assess the potential environmental impact. According to Jordan's minister for water, General Maysoun Zu'bi, this project could be considered as the first phase of the Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance.

 

In December 2013, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement for laying a water pipeline to link the Red Sea with the Dead Sea. The pipeline would be 180 km (110 mi) long and is estimated to take up to five years to complete. In January 2015 it was reported that the level of water was dropping by 1 m (3.3 ft) a year.

 

On 27 November 2016, the Jordanian government shortlisted five consortia to implement the project. Jordan's ministry of Water and Irrigation said that the $100 million first phase of the project would begin construction in the first quarter of 2018, and would be completed by 2021. The project was officially abandoned in June 2021, having never broken ground.

YO AVLO, MELDO I ESKRIVO DJUDIO.

 

(Algunas anotaciones sobre el Ladino).

 

Por José Guillermo Anjel R*.

 

A Moshé Rahmani y a Rosina, empecinados en que sigamos existiendo a través del Ladino. Y al Dr. Eugen Heine, por su magnífico libro sobre los sefardíes.

 

"A parientes y amigos, como a nosotros los niños, nos hablaban en ladino. Este era el idioma vernáculo, castellano antiguo; posteriormente lo he escuchado a menudo y no lo he olvidado".

 

Elías Canetti. La lengua Absuelta.

 

"Vo avlar por todas las okaziones onde los proverbos, dichas, konsejos i konsejas, ets. aiudan. Vo avlar por la musika ke muestros nonos trusheron de la Espanya. Vo avlar por las kuras i melizinas de las mujeres. Ets..."

 

Carta de invitación a una conferencia sobre Ladino.

 

Puerta de entrada.

 

Los judíos sefardíes, especialmente en Turquía, Grecia y algunas comunidades de Jerusalén y la península balcánica, hablan una lengua propia, heredada en parte de aquellos judíos que salieron de España en 1492 y ya completamente conformada, durante los últimos quinientos años, por los rabinos y eruditos descendientes de judíos españoles establecidos en otros países. Esta lengua se llama Ladino, aunque también se la conoce como Djudezmo, espanyolit o Djuidio.

 

La palabra Ladino, antes que una nominación que se hace de una lengua, quiere decir traducido. Ladino viene del verbo enladinar, traducir, y tiene su origen en los trabajos hechos por los judíos, moros y cristianos que trabajaban en las escuelas de Traducción de Toledo, en los tiempos de Alfonso X, el sabio. Al traducir los clásicos del hebreo, el griego y el árabe a la lengua local de entonces, los enladinizaban. Se dice que fueron los judíos los primeros en llevar a la lengua castellana los clásicos literarios y científicos antiguos. Esto les valió de muchas criticas porque vulgarizaban los textos clásicos al traducirlos a una lengua inferior (la popular) y no a una superior, el Latín, adecuada para expresar nociones complejas.

 

Ladino quiere decir, entonces, traducido a la lengua del pueblo (en el caso de los judíos sefardíes, de la comunidad), que es incluyente y de uso diario. Y que remite a una historia común y a un inconsciente colectivo de fácil significación y entendimiento, algo muy importante para la comunidad hebrea donde el individuo no existe sino el colectivo. No hay un judío sino unos judíos que se unen no sólo a través de tradiciones, creencias y liturgias sino mediante una lengua común, elemento básico de comunicación.

 

Pero el Ladino, a pesar de ser una lengua autónoma, no estuvo exenta de contaminaciones o de palabras traídas de otra lengua (en especial del hebreo) que dotaran de más sentido al entorno y la cotidianidad, las festividades religiosas y los encuentros sociales. En Turquía, Grecia y los Balcanes, los lugares donde existe más cantidad de ladino-hablantes, el ladino adoptó palabras de estos países y las ladinizó, es decir, les dio una sonoridad ladina, lo que llevó a que el ladino se enriqueciera en lugar de perecer por efecto de asimilación. Algo similar sucedió con el Yidisch, la lengua de los judíos de Europa Oriental. Vale la pena anotar que la pronunciación del hebreo moderno tiene la dicción sefardí, que lleva a que cada letra tenga su equivalente de sonido correcto al judeo-español.

  

Ladino, Españolit, Djudezmo, Judeo-español:

 

Kuando yo era una kriatura i rumpia un kristal en djugando mi nona me

araviava i me diziya 'ladino, ke sos un ladino'. Eya no savia el orijin de esta palavra, ma la uzava. Ladino era el djudio o arabo ke trezladava

tekstos a la lingua latina, es dizir ke 'ladinava', de modo ke al empesijo esta palavra dezinyava una persona intelijente. Despues la Istoria izo ke dezinyara al djudio. En la aktualidad en Espanya sinyifika ken es intelijente ama ovra mal.

 

Tomado de una correspondencia.

 

En España, cuando se menciona la palabra ladino, ésta tiene interpretaciones variadas: Romance castellano antiguo, lengua de extranjeros, indio que habla castellano, individuo que es astuto y hace el mal etc. Estas son las percepciones comunes y sólo un español culto llega a entender (y no siempre) que al decir ladino se habla de la lengua de los judíos sefardíes. Claro está que en las deformaciones de la historia (y en especial de las creadas por el antisemitismo), la palabra ladino siempre se refirió a lo judío: ya a las canciones judías, a la lengua de los judíos (considerados extranjeros en España a pesar de que vivieron veinte siglos en ella) y a la supuesta actitud sospechosa de los judíos (de creyentes, marranos y conversos). Así que en primera instancia, ladino fue una palabra despectiva o de índole acusador. De aquí que el ladino tenga el sinónimo de judezmo (lo que se habla en la judería), de españolit, un español inferior y de judeoespañol (algo propio de los judíos). Sin embargo, fuera de España, especialmente en Turquía (Izmir y Estanbol) y en Sarajevo, la palabra ladino tuvo su mayor significado: identidad (salud ke aiga, buena semanada mos de el Dio).

 

Djudeo Espanyol, Kastiyano Viejo, Sepharadit, Latino, Ladino, Ekseris Romeka, Ispanyolit, Yahudije, Musevije, han sido unos de los nombres que ha recibido el Ladino (como lengua) en los distintos países donde han residido los sefardíes. Estas formas de nombrar las crearon los escritores sefarditas, los rabinos y el entorno. Los escritores, cuando definían en qué lengua estaban sus escritos o los romanzas que usaban para darle un toque cultural a sus relatos (como en el caso de los escritos de Bula Satula). Los rabinos, cuando tradujeron los libros de rezos y el Tanaj (el antiguo testamento) al Ladino para ser leído por cualquier judío. Se buscaba con esto obviar la dificultad que presentaba el hebreo y el arameo para los judíos del común. Además, con estas traducciones, se unía la lengua religiosa a la que se hablaba en la casa y en la calle, creándose así un sentido de vida que unía el ser con el hacer. En otras palabras, el concepto de identidad se ligaba a la conciencia de lo cotidiano. De aquí las menciones a Dios (Dio) y a los personajes del Tanaj en las conversaciones diarias: Dio lo kera (inshalá-ojalá), buena semanada mos de elDio etc. El entorno (los no judíos), nombró la lengua de los sefardíes nominándola por su origen o, como pasa e Turquía y los Balcanes, a manera de despectivo.

 

Mihael Molho, teórico e historiador del Ladino, dice: "Los sefardies yamavan Ladino a la traduksyon (terdjume) de la Biblia a Espanyol. Al tiempo, el Haham uzava a dizir a sus elevos: Melda en Lashon (Ebreo) i en Ladino. Ma a la lingua "de kada diya" la yamavan Espanyol (Espanyolit) o Djudezmo. El Sefardi dize a su amigo "Eskrivime en Espanyol". Nunka dize "Eskrivime en Ladino". El Sefardi dize: "Avlame en Djudezmo" i no "Avlame en Ladino". Por tanto, los Ashkenazim uzavan a yamar "Ladino" a la lingua de los Sefaradim".

 

El Ladino se mantiene vivo en las comunidades sefarditas de Jerusalén, Turquía, Sarajevo, algunos pueblos balcánicos y en lugares de Grecia como Salónica o la isla de Rodas, donde no sólo se habla sino que se pule para que de más opciones como lengua para hablar, escribir, traducir y producir pensamiento, como sucede en Israel, donde la revista Aki Jerusalem, a través de artículos y debates, mantiene viva la herencia sefardí. También está el caso de la revista Los Muestros y de Erensia sefardí, que se editan en Europa. Las comunidades sefarditas de Bulgaria y Hungría, después del Holocausto (donde fueron severamente diezmadas por los nazis) perdieron el contacto con el Ladino que hablaban, ya porque los sobrevivientes inmigraron en pequeños grupos a otros sitios y allí asumieron el idioma local, ya porque los pocos que quedaron acabaron por asumir la lengua oficial (de obligado aprendizaje en los tiempos de la cortina de hierro).

 

Para algunos historiadores, el Ladino es un español arcaico que se mantiene activo en el acervo cultural de los sefardíes (de Sefarad, España). Y con base en esta lengua vieja, que no habría evolucionado, se trata de definir el Ladino y la herencia cultural española delos judíos sefarditas. Pero esta percepción, tomada de criterios a la ligera, no es cierta en su totalidad. El Ladino no lo hablan todos los sefarditas, sino un grupo establecido en el Oriente de Europa. Cuando los judíos fueron expulsados de España (en marzo de 1492), no todos se dirigieron a un mismo lugar: unos fueron a Portugal (de donde luego pasaron al sur de Francia y a Holanda), otros al Norte de África, los más a Turquía y algunos se vinieron a América. Así, los sefarditas asumieron lenguas como el portugués, el francés (que luego se volvió una segunda lengua en el sefardismo), el holandés, el italiano y el español que evolucionaba y que entre los judíos de Marruecos se convirtió en Haketía. Incluso, judíos sefarditas cultos, como Baruj Spinoza y Menashé ben Israel (ambos holandeses) asumieron el Latín para sus escritos. Y si bien los judíos españoles y sus descendientes tenían el Tanaj en Ladino o en edición hebreo-Ladino, sólo los sefarditas establecidos en el imperio otomano convirtieron esta lengua en su lenguaje común. Y fue entre estos judíos donde el Ladino evolucionó hasta el punto que hoy lo conocemos, evolución que se dio por fuera del español tradicional y en entornos y contextos distintos al de España. Así que si hablamos del Ladino actual, no estamos hablando de una lengua propia de la saudade judía sefardí sino en una lengua realmente activa que no sólo consta de textos viejos sino que aparece en Internet y en la correspondencia de la red. Y en una placa en Auschwitz, escrita en Ladino, donde se recuerda la memoria de 166.000 judíos Ladino-hablantes asesinados en los campos de concentración.

 

El Ladino como lengua moderna.

 

En la actualidad se hacen ingentes esfuerzos porque el Ladino no sólo continúe vivo sino para que sea reconocido como idioma europeo (así como el vasco, el catalán, el italiano piamontés, el bretón etc.). De tal manera que se escriben diccionarios y se busca una gramática común que permita un mejor desarrollo de la lengua como elemento de habla, escritura y pensamiento. Y si bien se ha optado por la grafía latina (para que la lengua tenga más universalidad) en lugar de la grafía hebrea que se utilizó para escribir hasta el año de 1948 (cuando desaparece el último periódico en ladino, La Vara, escrito en alefato), la sonoridad se ha respetado.

 

Así, lo primero que se ha buscado es el establecimiento de sonidos y una ortografía común (como hizo Eliécer ben Yehuda con el hebreo moderno). En Ladinokomunita, una comunidad de judíos sefarditas que actúa por Internet y que tiene como fin promover el Ladino, se propone la siguiente ortografía para la escritura del Djudeo-espanyol:

 

NO UZAMOS = Q, W, C (aparte de en nombres propios). (X solo para biervos komo exodus, exilo, etc.).

 

Para el sonido de la C ke se sona komo (s), uzamos la S, si se sona komo (k), uzamos la K.

 

Y es konsonante solo (yerno, yorar, etc.); no se uza sola. Uzamos i para el konjunktivo ( "y" en Kasteyano, "and" en Inglez), no Y.

 

Abasho representamos los sonidos del alfabeto, aziendo apareser detras de kada letra un nombre konosido:

 

A – Albert, B – Baruh, CH - CHarlie (en Inglez), D – David, DJ – Joe (en Inglez), E – Ester, F – Franko, G – Galanti, H – Hayim, I – Izak, J – Jacques (en Fransez), K – Kaden, L – Leon, M – Miriam, N – Neama, O – Oro, P – Pola, R – Roza, S – Salamon, SH – SHemuel, T – Tuvi, U – Uziel, V – Vitali, Y – Yavuz, Z – Zakuto.

 

Egzempios de biervos: alhad (Sunday), djugeves (Thursday), kaza (house), kuando (when), tu i yo (you and me), meldar (to read), eskrivir (to write).

 

Estos esfuerzos no nacen de tratar de aplicar una lingüística moderna sino de recuperar los sonidos que tenía el Ladino en la década del 30-40, en especial en Turquía y Grecia, donde no sólo se hablaba en las calles, casas, negocios, colegios y sinagogas, sino que también se publicaba en periódicos (uno muy famoso era La vara) y libros y se escribía en cartas. Para ello, Ladinokomunita ha creado un chat donde, a través del habla, se recuperan sonidos. Pero lo más importante para la recuperación y modernización del Ladino ha sido la escritura. A través de este canal de comunicaciones recuperan historias, recetas, dichas, kantigas, refranes y formas de discutir. Veamos algunos ejemplos:

 

Una historia y un esfuerzo:

 

Yo nasi en Salonik, un porto del nord de la Gresia la kuala tiene una estoria de mas de dos mil i trezyentos anios. Una sivda ke arekojo kon amor a los djidios asegyidos de todo lugar. No ay de maraviyar ke un tiempo fue yamada " Madre del puevlo de Israel.". Muncho fue eskrito sovre la lingua estoria de las komunitas djudias de Salonik, i sovre todo por las de los Sefaradim, ke fueron fondadas por los ke toparon un porto ke los arekojo kuando fuyeron de la "Inkizision" de los reyes katolikos d’ Espania. Estas komunitas dominaron la sivda durante kaje 5 siklos, teniendo ayinda la yave de sus kazas piedridas, sus uzos i kostumbres, sus muzika, i sovre todo sus lingua.La komunita djudia de Salonik, la luz del sefaradizmo en Evropa, no pudo fuyir del terrivle destino ke los Nazis aviyan programado para todas las komunitas djudias de Evropa. Despues de la gerra, la mozaika vibrante de la sivdad, poliglota i de diferentes kulturas aviya pyedrido una grande parte de su splendor. A la fin de los anios "quarenta" i mezmo durante los "siquenta" las yaras ayinda estavan aviertas; el espanto siempre en los ojos de los pokos ke aviyan sovrebivido. El aniyo de la kadena ke durante muchos siklos deteniya rezya la nave de muestra egsistensia en la sivda, era delikado i pronta a romperse a todo momento.No se sentiya mas la melodioza lingua del Djudeo-Espaniol en la sivda. Las kriaturas nasidas despues de la gerra no keriyan mas sintir esta lingua mizmo en kaza. O, eran los parientes ke, para prezervarlos de una otra katastrofa, no keriyan avlarlos en espaniol. Portanto, las bendisiones, los kastigos, las kantigas para durmir eran en djudezmo, porke la madre no saviya dizir todo esto en otra lingua. Las kantigas ke aviyan trayido de Espania ke avlavan de amor, tristeza i muerte, en los salones, en las tavernas, en el porto, estavan olvidadas. Era solo en la keila sovre todo en Yom Kippur ke se pudiya sintir la dulse lingua i yorar mizmo si no la avlavas mas. "O Dio Piadozo"...Los mansevos teniyan difikulta a konsintir la alegria de sus parientes kuando en la meza del Seder viniya la storia de la salvasion "I sakomos Adonay de Ayifto kon brasso tendido." No pudiyan entender este dialekto del Kastiliano vyejo ke su version oral se fue enrikisiendo kon munchas palavras gregas, turkas, fransezas o italianas. Los anios pasaron i el dezeyo de bushkar su identita en la generasion mueva se aziya sintir. Los rekuerdos del pasado les vino en supito komo un relámpago. Las palavras de amor de la nona i tambien los pletos aviyan kedado gravados para siempre." Mi alma, regalado mio, luz de mi vida, malgrado ke no te veyo, fishugo, pesgado i embatakado.". Se akodraron los nombres de los sabrosos komeres ke las madres i nonas ke fueron serviendo en la meza todos estos anios guadrando ansina esta parte de la erensya. Borekitas de merendjena, tajikos de bimbrio, fijones kon salchichas.

 

La komunita Djudia de Salonik kontrariamente a todas las prediksiones dayinda bive. Amostro su volunta de enreziar la kadena ke estava tanto flosha. Los primeros diez anios se kijo muncho lavoro porke se daron prioritas a kurar la yaras de l’alma i ayudar a las viktimas. De ayi adelantre los dirijentes de la komunita pensaron a arrebivir la kultura Sefaradi. Solo ke kultura sin la lingua ke la yeva no puede egzistir. Malorozamente, se vido ke solo un 20 por sien de los mil djidios de Salonik favlava o a lo manko entendia el Djudeo-Espaniol. Una partida de los Sefardis de Salonik i de las sivdas chikas del derredor, se enstalaron en Atena despues de la guerra I son oy un kinze a vente por sien de la populasion djudia de esta sivdad. De estos numeros se kreye ke un sinko por sien de la komunita djudia de Atena favla el djudeo espaniol.

Entonses, los dirijentes de la komunita en Salonik enkorajaron a volontarios para ke bushken los fondos menesterosos para formar grupos ke ivan a lavorar para parvenir a este buto. Kon el ayudo de las institusiones "Kovo" i "Ets-A-Haim" empesaron a reeditar livros relijiozos; entre otros una maraviyoza "Hagada de Pesah". Se formo un koro para guadrar las romansas, las melodias kantadas por muestros parientes i despues de muncho lavoro puedemos dizir ke oy moz aze onor. A la fin del mez va tomar parte al festival "CANTUS"de Salzburg i va ser el solo koro venido de Gresia. El anyo pasado se avrio un manyifiko museyo onde no solo se ambeza la estoria de los Djidios de Salonik, ma se transmete la glorioza memoriya de lo ke fue esta komunita i tambien se ve la vitalitade lo ke es oy. La komision kultural de la komunita

djudia de Salonik, entre otras aktividades, konsidera una reushida su partsipasion al l’edision del livro "Voices of Jewish Salonika" del profesor David Bunis, ansi ke del livro ke esta para salir sovre la tradision kulinaria i las retchetas de los djudios de Salonik. Ma lo mas emportante de la ovra de esta komision fue la organizasion de dos konferensias internasionales sovre el Djudeo-Espaniol a los kuales partisiparon munchos de entre vozotros.El "Ladino Society" es una parte de la komision kultural de la comunita djudia de Salonik, i las personas ke lavoran estan perkurando de arekojer lo mas posivle de tekstos, material audiovisual, livros i vokabularyos sovre el Djudezmo. Ultimamente estan bushkando en la Internet para parvinir a topar ayudo afin de tener lisyones en Djudeo-Espaniol. Siertos miembros de este groupo estan kreyando de muevo…SI, DE MUEVO, chikos tekstos en proza o en rima. Organizan tambien kada kinze diyas para los ke les enteressa ( i son numerozos ) demanianas de Alhad para muestra lingua, lo ke se yama "Kavedjiko kon Mohabet ". Preparan tambien unos mini kuiz en Djudeo-Espaniol para los chikos de la eskola primera Djudia i pensan organizar un klub de teatro, i de kreasion de filmos video, en ladino,sovre la vida de los Djidios de Salonik de antes de la gerra. Sovre todo azen lo mas posivle para transmeter a la mueva generasion el amor de esta lingua i los enkorajan a ke la guadren. Puedia avlar por oras sovre lo ke se tiene echo o lo ke keremos azer, i si ensistish un poko, lo aria puede ser. Ma kero ke konsideresh todo esto komo una promesa ke me kargaron de transmetervos: Tanto ke egzistimos, mizmo los pokos ke kedimos en Salonik, no vamos a deshar murir la kultura i sovre todo la lingua de los Sefardim. (El autor de esta nota se llama Samuel Hassid. Las palabras resaltadas son mías).

 

Como puede observarse, hay un gran intento por hacer del Ladino una lengua que lo cubra todo para que la memoria no se pierda. Y si bien la memoria podría guardarse en otro idioma, es el idioma original de la memoria la que la revitaliza y le da su sentido más estricto. En un tren donde yo viajaba a Barcelona, me decía un catalán: si mi bisabuelo dijo préssec, si mi abuelo dijo préssec, si mi padre dijo préssec, porque debo decir yo melocotón. Es que la memoria no es un mero dato, también es un sonido que liga imágenes y sentimientos. Algo así decía Henry Bergson.

 

Una discusión:

 

En el Ladino moderno, se presentan debates acerca de palabras de uso cotidiano pero de origen diverso, ya que una comunidad utiliza determinada palabra para designar algo y otra usa una distinta. Esto se debe a que un judío griego a veces no podía traducir al Ladino algo propio de la cultura donde estaba viviendo y entonces la ladinizaba con el sonido pero no con el nombre. Lo propio hacía uno que vivía en Turquía o en los Balcanes. Veamos dos ejemplo de estas discusiones:

 

1. Ya tenesh muncha razon: en Estanbol se dize "ora", en Izmir "sat" (i no "saat", ke es turko). Entremientres yo ya me izi "dankave" (adam kaved,

nudnik, en ebreo). Saves ke en Estanbol se dize "pantuflas" i en Izmir "patuklas"? I ya saves ke en Estanbol se dize "mutpah" i en Izmir "kuzina". "Kuzina" i en Estanbol es "kabine" En Estanbol se dize "jaket" i en Izmir "sakaki". En Estanbol se dize "pijama" i en Izmir "mechare", i ay otras palabras mas, i entre eyas una, konsiderada muy suzia en Estanbol, mientres ke en Izmir es una palavra del todo normal. Penso ke ya entiendes ke no tengo el koraje de eskrivirla, mizmo ke para mi es kompletamente limpia. Esto kere dizir ke se pueden uzar siempre sin yerrarse las dos formas.

 

2. En muestras kazas se muncho uzo entre mozos sefaradimd se "édankav" sujeto del biervo de uno pezgado; I mismo me akodro ke kuando este, era muncho pezgado, dize siempre por entero, dunke édankav...Ke es dizir mas pezgado ainda, diriamos. " éMilé Dankav"diziyan. I entonses, si se disho anside esta persona, de (yeno konpleto) "émal es vienen del ivrit "émil"...siguro ke era mijor toparnos leshos de el.

 

Entre los judíos sefardíes de El Cairo, como dice André Aciman, en su novela La huída de Egipto, ciertas vulgaridades o expresiones peyorativas se decían en árabe. De igual manera los cargos oficiales o las denominaciones técnicas pasaban al Ladino en francés e inglés. Como sucedió con el hebreo moderno, hubo palabras (pertenecientes al contexto de la modernidad y el modernismo) imposibles de traducir porque no tenían su equivalente en un nombre específico sino en una frase completa. Así, pasaron al hebreo palabras como profesor, televisia, radio, cigariot etc, provenientes del yidisch, del alemán y del inglés. A estas palabras se les dio sonoridad hebrea..

 

El Ladino, una lengua cultural y de memoria:

 

En la última novela de Umberto Eco, Baudolino, la magia del relato comienza con un primer capítulo escrito completamente en la lengua romance del siglo XIII italiano. Con este inicio, Eco ubica al lector en un espacio de palabras que legitiman la historia, la cultura y la memoria a la que habrá de recurrir su personaje. Algo similar sucede con el Ladino, donde ciertos elementos no se modernizan sino que se mantienen en su lengua original. Esto no pasa en el Haketía (que muchos confunden con el ladino), donde si hay una modernización en la estructura y las palabras, como sucede con los últimos discos del cantor Joaquín Díaz (promotor del folklore sefardí), quien recurre al Haketía para darle más sonido más español a lo que canta.

 

En el Ladino tradicional, que es la base de la lengua moderna, un buen número de romanzas (kantigas) e historias se mantienen en su estructura original. De esta manera, la memoria permanece inalterable. Veamos un ejemplo de esto (sobre una canción) y su discusión correspondiente:

 

Avram Avino: Avram Avino padre kerido/ Padre bendicho/ Luz de Israel/ Kuando el rey Nimrod/ Al kampo salia/ Mirava en el sielo/ I en la estreriya/ Vido una luz santa/ en la Djuderiya/ Ke avia de nacer/ Avram Avino/ Avram Avino/ padre kerido/ Padre bendicho/ Luz de Israel/ La mujer de Terah kedo preniada/ De diya en diya el le preguntava/ Deke tenesh la kara tan demudada/ Eya ya saviya el bien ke teniya/ Avram Avino padre kerido/ Padre Bendicho/ Luz de Israel.

 

La discusión:

 

En esta discusión se hacen correcciones sobre la canción. Así, mientras en la canción aparece Avram avino, en el debate se corrige avino por avinu (padre nuestro, en hebreo) y Avram por Avraam, porque se busca un sonido más correcto, no una a doble sino una a alargada. De esta manera, la lengua se ve intervenida por conceptos antropológicos y de búsqueda de sonoridad. Este recurso lo usa, de manera muy acertada, Thomas Mann en la tetralogía de José y hermanos, cuando en lugar de escribir Jacob, escribe Jaacob.

 

1. El rey Nimrod (segun la lejenda) fue astrologo muy talentuozo i komo dize muestra kantiga: Kuando el rey Nimrod al kampo saliya mirava en el syelo, a la estryeriya vido luz santa el la djuderiya ke aviya de naser Avraam Avinu. Segun la astrologia, se puede ver en las estreyas no solo el pasado i el presente, ma i el futuro/avenir tambien. Ansi ke es muy logiko (a kien kreye en astrologia) ke Nimrod vido en las estreas ke ay (o ke tiene de kriarse) la djuderiya i ke aviya de naser Avram Avinu. Ans, Nimrod VIDO ke aviya de naser el ombre ke va "deskuvrir" al mundo ke eksiste solo i uniko Dio; vido tambien ke se va formar la djuderiya i el puevlo Djidyo. Por esto, el rey Nimrod preguntava a la madre de Avram "Deke tenesh la kara tan demudada" Ma, muestra Abuela era bastante svelta, i no le deskuvriyo ke estava prenyada..

 

2. La kantiga "Avram Avinu" (ke mozotros kantamos solo dos "ramos")

tiene 17 "ramos".

 

A proposito, Avraam Avinu ke era "el primer Djidyo", nunka lo yamavan

"Djidyo" ma Ivri/Ebreo.Muestro puevlo fue yamado "Yeudim"/Djidyos a lo menos 1000 anyos despues de Avraam. Avram Avinu nasyo 9 o 10 djenerasyones despues de Nimrod. I si me demandas a mi, Nimrod nunka tuvo el Zehut i la oportunidad de ver a Avram...Ma muestros Hahamim por demonstrar la diferensya i la lucha entre los idolatras/paganos i entre Avram Avinu ke fue el primer monoteista i rekonosyo al kriador, muestro Dio-santo-bindicho-el, formaron la Agada (lejenda). Segun la lejenda, el rey Nimrod deklaro i proklamo a si mizmo komo dio, i por esto, naturalmente, bushkava de matar a Avram. La lejenda tambien mos konta ke kuando lo topo Nimrod a Avram, lo echo en el forno/orno (ma Avram salvo por milagro, por la mano de Dio).

 

En la reestructuración del Ladino, no sólo se opera de manera lingüística y filológica sino que en ella entra el modelo de la discusión talmúdica, donde se busca la respuesta más acertada después de haber sumado otras respuestas. Este Pil-pul, permite no sólo enriquecer la lengua con datos y metodologías sino que favorece el ritmo y la movilidad de la lengua. Hablaríamos, entonces, de una discusión que enriquece en lugar de mermar o limitar.

 

También, para el dinamismo del Ladino, la lengua aporta la cotidianidad de la educación sentimental. Poesías, canciones, dichos, refranes, bendiciones y maldiciones están presentes en la lengua moderna. Estos son ejemplos:

 

Poesía:

 

Alta alta es la luna/ Kuando empesa a 'sklareser/ I ja ermoza sin ventura/

Nunka yege a naser./ Los ojos ya me s'incheron/ De tanto mirar la mar./ Vaporikos van i vienen,/ Letras para mi no ay./ Pasharikos chuchulean/ En los arvoles de flor./ Ay debasho se asentan/ Los ke sufren del amor.

 

Canciones (kantigas):

 

Una donde el cantor se queja.

 

Adio kerida/ tu madre kuando te paryo/ te kito al mundo/ korason eya no te dio/ para amar segundo/ Adio, adio/ no kero la vida/ me la amargates tu/ Va busca otro amor/ aharva otras puertas/ aspera otro amor/ ke para mi sos muerta.

 

Otra donde quien canta se define y hace un pedido :

 

Morenika a mi me yaman/ aunke yo blanka nasi,/ de pasear galana,

mi kolor pedri./ D'akeyas ventanikas/ m'arrojan flechas/ si son de amores/ vengan derechas./ Vestido de vedre/ i de alteli/ ke ansina dize la novia/ kon el chelibi./ Eskalerika le izo d'oro i de marfil./ Para ke suva el novio/ a dar kidushin.

Dezime galana/ si keres venir./ Los velos tengo huertes./ No puedo yo venir./ Morenika a mi me yaman/ El ijo del rey/ si otra ves me yama,/ me vo yo kon el.

 

Dichos (dichas):

 

La dicha es una forma de expresar algo. En el mundo sefardí, las dichas se usan en la conversación cotidiana y tienen un valor muy parecido al de los refranes, ya por su contenido, ya por el ingenio con que fueron creadas.

 

-Tomi al gato por kompanyia, avrio los ojos i me espantó (Es mejor estar solo que mal acompañado).

 

-Todo tenyia Salomoniko: sarna, lepra i sarampionico. Se dice de alguien al que le caen todos los males.

 

-Se va Hanna i viene Baruh. (Sale uno entra otro).

 

-Tiene la riza del karpuz. (Se dice de aquel que cuando ríe muestra mucho los dientes). Karpuz es el nombre que se le da en Ladino a la sandía.

 

-Kandelika en la kaye, oskurina de kaza (Luz de la calle oscuridad de la casa. Se dice de aquel que es muy bien visto fuera de su casa y tiene muy mal genio con los propios).

 

-Djoha arriva del azno bushkava al azno. (Djoha, arriba del asno, buscaba al asno. Se dice de aquel que tiene delante de si lo que busca y no lo ve).

-Boka por ermozura. (Se dice de aquel que asiste a una conversación y no habla).

 

-Bushkar el klavo i el burako (Se dice de aquella persona que nos visita y en lugar de conversar se la pasa preguntando sobre nosotros).

 

Dichas informales:

 

También hay dichas más alegres, propias del habla de mujeres o de conversaciones donde los que hablan son de confianza.

 

A'aron! Ayde vate a djugar kon Moshoniko i traymos la Ley del Ar Sinay. (Aarón, anda, vete a jugar con Moshoniko y tráenos la ley del Sinay)

 

Abram, no te hagas del haham, porke el lovo te va komer. ¡Am! (Abrahám, no te hagas el sabio que el lobo te va a comer. Am!)

 

Binyamin! Aze atansyon de salir syempre por la derecha. (Benjamín, cuídate de salir siempre por donde debes)

 

Izakito el kurajozo, No te espantes, no te va matar tu padre. (Izakito cascarrabias, no te espantes que tu padre no te va a matar)

 

Sos muy mazaloza de tener esta vida ke tyenes. (Eres muy mazaloza, de tener la vida que llevas. Mazaloza viene de Mazal, suerte. Así que la dicha queda: Tienes mucha suerte de llevar la vida que tienes).

 

Refranes:

 

En todas las lenguas, los refranes representan la sabiduría popular. En el mundo sefardí, son famosas Las glosas de sabiduría de Don Sem Tov (el señor del nombre bueno), conocido como el rabino de Carrión. Este refranero del siglo XIII, fue utilizado por Miguel de Cervantes para poner muchos de esos refranes en la boca de Don Quijote de la Mancha. Pero en Ladino también hay refranes más nuevos, nacidos del ejercicio de la cotidianidad, por ejemplo:

 

Hamán sin sapún es como kafé sin titún. Baño sin jabón es como café sin cigarrillo.

 

De mis ochios, los de mis ichios. Mis ojos son mis hijos.

 

El ke demanda Sedaka, no se echa sin senar (El que pide caridad no se acuesta sin cenar)

 

Aremenda tus panyos te turaran un anyo, aremenda otra ves te turaran un mes. (Remienda tus vestidos y te durarán un año, remiéndalos otra vez y te durarán un mes)

 

Parientes, sevoyas i ajos assembrados ralos (Parientes, cebollas y ajos, pocos)

Eski dost dushman olmaz (este refrán está en turco). Amigo viejo nunka se aze enemigo (Nunca es enemigo un amigo viejo)

 

Bendiciones (Benedysiones):

 

En la cultura sefardí, la bendición (distinta a la litúrgica) es algo bueno que se desea a otro. De aquí la importancia de tenerlas presentes, a manera de dichas:

 

¡Blanka i kontente! (dinero y alegría) - ¡Otro tanto! - ¡El Dio ke te page de bueno!- Refua buena ke tengas! -(Bulbul) Mazal Bueno! - ¡Orozo ke Seyas! (que tengas suerte) - ¡Bueno ke veygas! - Ikerdt (fortuna, viaje) Kon Salud i kon Vidas (nuevos vistidos) - ¡Viaje de leche i miel! - ¡Para Fiesta i Alegrias! - ¡Blanka i Oror Tanto! (dinero y tanto en honor) - ¡Novia ke te Veyga! - ¡Beraha i Salud! (bendiciones de Dios y salud) -Ikerdt: Ombre de Buena Ventura! ( se dice en el Barmitzva) - ¡El Dio ke paga de bueno! - El Dio ke te de muncho bueno! - La Vida es una maraviya!.

 

Para muchas mujeres, mi abuela por ejemplo, decir bendiciones traía buena suerte a la casa.

 

Bendiciones especiales:

 

Para recién casados: ¡Pasa bueno! - ¡Blanka i Alegre ke estes! - ¡Muncho bueno ke te de el Dio! - Muncho bueno ke te aga tu marido.

 

Para una nueva casa: se yevavan vino, espejo i pan (esto disho Bulbul)

 

Para cuando se llega del hospital: De tu kaza ke no mankes! (que no vuelvas a salir de casa).

 

Para los que están en la mesa: ¡ De muerte ke no mos manken! (que no muramos de hambre).

 

Para regalo: ¡Gozar Bueno!

 

Para ora de sar (funerales) Vozotros ke bivash...i no mas de ningunos! - ¡El Dio ke mos guadre de ora de sar!

  

Maldiciones (maldesyones):

 

La maldición es una manera de reaccionar ante un error o una ira provocada por algo o alguien. Y si bien no están legitimadas por la moral, si hacen parte de la lengua y del comportamiento cotidiano.

 

¡Arematate! (que te mates) - ¡Arematasion! (que se maten) - El Dio ke te mate! - ¡Mahshemo ke te kaiga! (más éxodo que te caiga) - ¡Al ginam! (vete al diablo) - ¡Malogrado ke seyas! - ¡La estreya ke le kayga! (que se te acabe la suerte) - ¡La estreya ke no le kayga!! (que no te llegue la suerte) -¡El Dio ke lo aranke del mundo! - ¡Maldicha seya ( maldita sea tal o cual persona) - !Haram ke se le aga! (que le llegue el mal gobierno) - ¡El guerko ke se lo yeve!

  

La memoria:

 

Quizás ningún pueblo guarda tanto la memoria como el judío. Se podría decir que la venera debido a que en ella están sus raíces, tanto las fundamentales como las de las distintas tradiciones habidas en tal o cual país. Decaí la cantidad de papel escrito e impreso, la importancia de las guenizot (lugares donde se guardan los libros y textos que han sufrido algún desperfecto) y la necesidad de aprender a leer antes que cualquier otra cosa. Esta memoria ha corrido a cargo de los escritores, los rabinos, las correspondencias, las canciones, las nanas, las fiestas religiosas (que en el judaísmo son en su mayoría fiestas nacionales de obligado cumplimiento) y la tradición oral que se repite. De aquí la importancia de la lengua, de pronunciar una palabra y recordar este o aquel suceso. De leerla y hacer el mismo ejercicio.

 

De entre los muchos escritores en Ladino que existen, cabe destacar la presencia de Bula Satula y sus crónicas escritas (en colaboración su marido, Haim Avraam) en el periódico La Vara. Estos escritos aparecieron entre 1922 y 1934 y en ellos se hace una graciosa descripción de la inmigración sefardí a América.

 

Bula Satula era el seudónimo que usaba un joven periodista, Moise Sulam, quien hablaba en nombre de una vieja mujer enferma (Bula Satula) que se quejaba todo el tiempo de las cosas que le sucedían. A su lado estaba siempre su marido, una especie de Job moderno.

 

En el periódico la Vara del 23 de febrero de 1923, se lee:

 

Regalada Vara de mi korason. Te asiguro regalada Vara ke no me se aresenta el alma, si no "desbrocho" kada semana un poko en tu gazeta, de las postemas ke yo tengo en mi korason. Fiatelo sin djurarte, ke para desbafar todo lo ke tengo guadrado se kere una mar de tinta i un sielo de papel.

 

La manya la sapa dizen de viejo, esto es verdad kon unas kuantas de muestras mujerikas, ke lo tomaron por ofisyo de estar indo de pedromo en pedromo, por avlar mal de unas, gomitar por otras, i echar la myel i la fyel por mujerikas onestas ke no tyenen alishik kon ijos de ombre. Estas kyelipures de mujeres no se dan arbamo de inve[n]tar mil i una koza i de azer un ijo sin padre ni madre i mandarlo a la eskola. Estas mashinikas muestras son todas de Saporta ke todo se les importa . Si una piko de merkarse un vestido, no ay ke dizir, ya empesan a ezvarear demazia, komo si fuera algun byen suyos.

 

La de la otra semana regalada Vara, no me se va ir para abasho, syente i empostemate entera. Una fakyirika mujer se merko un palto de vente i sinko dolares, pagados kon la lazerya de sus palmas, i la sudor de su frente. No uvo ke dizir apena se lo estreno, ke unas kuantas bashibochas i atavanadas , ya lo presyaron por syen dolares, i kitaron ke el palto le fue regalado a la mujer, por el patron, asi ke le venga un mal en el garon.

 

Este mal avlar, i este yevar i traer se esta espandyendo un poko mas kada dia, komo se esta espandyendo la enfluensa. Si por dezgrasya alguna bavajada akontese, al punto ya kitan kurdela de muving piktshur, de una pulga la azen un gameo, i de un eskaravato un elefante.

 

Lo ke te rogo i te namoro regalada Vara, es de aharvar a estas mujerikas, de estanyar sin kedar semana por semana, i de tener a la razon a todas akeas no tyenen otro echo, ke de azer vijitikas de konsograje, para echar el sam de kulevro, i para meter sal en kazamyentos. Bokas mal avladeras me disheron, ke el klub de estas mujerikas es en una kaza de Ortshard, onde la patrona de kaza propya esta embatakada de punta de pye fino a kavesa. Kada dia se rekoje un medjlish de mujeres en esta kaza, unas echando, otras alevantando, unas kitando i otras metyendo, ke el guerko les meta un tapon en la boka, para ke la pyedran por entero, kon la kuala kedo tu,

BULA SATULA

 

Estos textos humorísticos y al mismo tiempo críticos (como sucede también en yidisch con los escritos de Isaac Bashevis Singer), permitían la lectura de la cotidianidad y, por lo tanto, de la creación de la historia privada de los sefardíes. Por esta razón, se hacen indispensables en la reconstrucción del Ladino. Como dice George Duby, el célebre historiador francés, sólo a través de lo que lee lo cotidiano (canciones, poemas, cartas, recetas, crónicas, habladurías) se encuentra el espíritu de un colectivo y la razón de su lenguaje.

 

Finalmente, la memoria se constituye también con los modelos a seguir, representados por sabios, héroes y hombres justos. Y en esto el Ladino es abundante, pues ya que la comunidad sefardí no podía participar de una historia turca o griega que la excluía, si lograba que hacia el interior del colectivo hubiera de quien hablar. Así, existe un héroe, Gerineldo, que es una especie de Quijote judío. Y existen también un sin número de rabinos famosos por su sabiduría y piedad, como es el caso de Haim Palachi, de quien David Levi de Izmir escribió en un e-mail:

 

El 17 Shevat 5628 (9 Fevrero 1869) es el diya de la desparisyon de el Rav Hayim Palachi de Izmir. En las Kehilot el se nombra Ateret Tiferet, Morenu ve Rabenu, Ha-Rav Ha-Kollel, Baal Sefer Lev Hayim - La Korona de Ermozura, Maestro Profesor i Rabino, Rabino de Komunitad, Eskrivano de el Livro Korason de Hayim. Tambien se yamava Marbits Tora (diremos inkulkador de la Tora).

 

Nasido en Izmir en 1788 se izo Hahambashi en 1852 despues de la desparisyon de mi avuelo Rav Rafael Pinehas de Sigura.

 

Era muy kapachi en Literatura i eskrivyo 72 livros. Se konta ke estos livros se kemaron en un fuego i el los eskrivyo por sigunda vez. (Me aviya kontado mi kerido More Shemuel Ha-Kohen.)

 

Dirijio la komutitad kon 45 Rabinos, donde el Bet Din se komposava kon los Rabinos Yeoshua Shelomo Arditti (Rav Hina ve Hisda), Hayim Binyamin Pontremoli, Rahamim Nisim Yehuda de Sigura, Nisim Hayim Moshe Modai.

 

Se konosiya kon su otoritad,( Sigun el Prof. Abraham Galante "Despotiko" ). Ma su tiempo fue el tiempo de la transisyon de las Komunitades Judias Ottomanas, de la tradisyon a la modernitad. Este proseso se konta perfektamente en el livro de valor " French Jews & Turkish Jews" de el Sinyor Aron Rodrigue.

 

Tiempos de trokamiento son muy difisiles. Akeyos tiempos uvo munchas diferensiyas i pletos entre el puevlo, las organizasyones i el Gran Rabinato. El Gran Rabinato de Estanbol deviya de embiyar un Shaliah para atakanar la situasyon. Siempre tuvo una reputasyon mondiala por su sciensa i Judios notables komo la Familya Rothchild, Sir Moses Montefiore tenian kontakto kon el i lo veniyan avijitar a Izmir. En un diya donde estos pletos kontinuavan el Baron Rothchild vino avijitarlo i le disho : " Ke azes aki, ven te yevare a Londres i te garantizo un posto bien alto en el Gran Rabinato". El no kito Izmir. Ma fue ovligado a demisyonar. Sigun El Profesor Galante afito ke kuando el se desidyo a demisyonar, se fue a su Sinagoga ( ¿Algazi o Bet Hillel ?) avriyo el Ehal, ensendyo una kandela de siryo i empeso a demandar la proteksyon de el Dyo. ¡Kuriyosa koensidensya! Un Raash grande uvo durante su orasyon. La komunitad lo aksepto komo un avizo i eskaparon estas diferensiyas i pletos en la komunitad en oktobre 1867. Kontinuo a ser el Gran Rabino fin su desparisyon. Kreygo ke el KavzoKollel - Palachi es esto i el Sinyor Riri Roditi mos puede dar mas eksplikasyones.

 

A manyana lunes se le va azer el Limud i se va vijitar su tomba por el 135 anyo. ( zehuto Yagen Alenu ve Al Kol Israel Ahenu. Amen - Ke su zehut yege a mozostros i todo muestros ermanos Israel. Amen)

 

Y así podríamos proseguir, dando datos escritos sobre la vida que se da al interior del ladino, entorno a los usos y costumbres, sueños y pesadillas que conforman su memoria oral y escrita, donde la presencia de Moshé Ben Maimón (Maimónides), José Karo, Salomón Gabirol, Abraham Pakuda y otros alientan a escribir y a no dejar las raíces.

 

A manera de conclusión: por Ladino entiendo aquella lengua que hace posible que yo exista como ser con conciencia de sí mismo.

   

The Dead Sea also known by other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

 

As of 2019, the lake's surface is 430.5 metres (1,412 ft) below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth. It is 304 m (997 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34.2% (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water – 9.6 times as salty as the ocean – and has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea's main, northern basin is 50 kilometres (31 mi) long and 15 kilometres (9 mi) wide at its widest point.

 

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean Basin for thousands of years. It was one of the world's first health resorts, and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilisers. Today, tourists visit the sea on its Israeli, Jordanian and West Bank coastlines.

 

The Dead Sea is receding at a swift rate; its surface area today is 605 km2 (234 sq mi), having been 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) in 1930. Multiple canal and pipeline proposals, such as the scrapped Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, have been made to reduce its recession.

 

Names

The English name "Dead Sea" is a calque of the Arabic name Bahr or al-Bahr al-Mayyit itself a calque of earlier Greek (Νεκρά Θάλασσα, Nekrá Thálassa) and Latin names (Mare Mortuum) in reference to the scarcity of aquatic life caused by the lake's extreme salinity. The name also occasionally appears in Hebrew literature as Yām HaMāvet (ים המוות), 'Sea of Death'.

 

The usual biblical and modern Hebrew name for the lake is the Sea of Salt. Other Hebrew names for the lake also mentioned in the Bible are the Sea of Arabah (ים הערבה, Yām Ha‘Ărāvâ) and the Eastern Sea (הים הקדמוני, HaYām HaKadmoni). In Arabic, it is also known as the Sea of Lot (‏بحر لوط‎, Buhayrat, Bahret, or Birket Lut) from the nephew of Abraham whose wife was said to have turned into a pillar of salt during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Less often, it has been known in Arabic as the Sea of Zo'ar from a formerly important city along its shores.

 

Historical English names include the Salt Sea, Lake of Sodom from the biblical account of its destruction and Lake Asphaltites from Greek and Latin. Because of the large volume of ancient trade in the lake's naturally occurring free-floating bitumen, its usual names in ancient Greek and Roman geography were some form of Asphalt Lake (Greek: Ἀσφαλτίτης or Ἀσφαλτίτις Λίμνη, Asphaltítēs or Asphaltítis Límnē; Latin: Lacus Asphaltites) or Sea (Ἀσφαλτίτης Θάλασσα, Asphaltítēs Thálassa).

 

Geography

The Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform (DST). This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the tectonic plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the northern end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end.

 

The Jordan River is the only major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools and quicksand pits along the edges. There are no outlet streams.

 

The Mujib River, biblical Arnon, is one of the larger water sources of the Dead Sea other than the Jordan. The Wadi Mujib valley, 420 m below the sea level in the southern part of the Jordan valley, is a biosphere reserve, with an area of 212 km2 (82 sq mi). Other more substantial sources are Wadi Darajeh (Arabic)/Nahal Dragot (Hebrew), and Nahal Arugot [de] that ends at Ein Gedi. Wadi Hasa (biblical Zered) is another wadi flowing into the Dead Sea.

 

Rainfall is scarcely 100 mm (4 in) per year in the northern part of the Dead Sea and barely 50 mm (2 in) in the southern part. The Dead Sea zone's aridity is due to the rainshadow effect of the Judaean Mountains. The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself.

 

To the west of the Dead Sea, the Judaean mountains rise less steeply and are much lower than the mountains to the east. Along the southwestern side of the lake is a 210 m (700 ft) tall halite mineral formation called Mount Sodom.

 

The salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Palestine's Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

 

Geology

There are two contending hypotheses about the origin of the low elevation of the Dead Sea. The older hypothesis is that the Dead Sea lies in a true rift zone, an extension of the Red Sea Rift, or even of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa. A more recent hypothesis is that the Dead Sea basin is a consequence of a "step-over" discontinuity along the Dead Sea Transform, creating an extension of the crust with consequent subsidence.

 

Sedom Lagoon

During the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene, around 3.7 million years ago,[citation needed] what is now the valley of the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and the northern Wadi Arabah was repeatedly inundated by waters from the Mediterranean Sea. The waters formed in a narrow, crooked bay that is called by geologists the Sedom Lagoon, which was connected to the sea through what is now the Jezreel Valley.[citation needed] The floods of the valley came and went depending on long-scale changes in the tectonic and climatic conditions.

 

The Sedom Lagoon extended at its maximum from the Sea of Galilee in the north to somewhere around 50 km (30 mi) south of the current southern end of the Dead Sea, and the subsequent lakes never surpassed this expanse. The Hula Depression was never part of any of these water bodies due to its higher elevation and the high threshold of the Korazim block separating it from the Sea of Galilee basin.

 

Salt deposits

The Sedom Lagoon deposited evaporites mainly consisting of rock salt, which eventually reached a thickness of 2.3 km (1.43 mi) on the old basin floor in the area of today's Mount Sedom.

 

Lake formation

Approximately two million years ago, the land between the Jordan Rift Valley and the Mediterranean Sea rose to such an extent that the ocean could no longer flood the area. Thus, the long lagoon became a landlocked lake.

 

The first prehistoric lake to follow the Sedom Lagoon is named Lake Amora (which possibly appeared in the early Pleistocene; its sediments developed into the Amora (Samra) Formation, dated to over 200–80 kyr BP), followed by Lake Lisan (c. 70–14 kyr) and finally by the Dead Sea.

 

Lake salinity

The water levels and salinity of the successive lakes (Amora, Lisan, Dead Sea) have either risen or fallen as an effect of the tectonic dropping of the valley bottom, and due to climate variation. As the climate became more arid, Lake Lisan finally shrank and became saltier, leaving the Dead Sea as its last remainder.

 

From 70,000 to 12,000 years ago, Lake Lisan's level was 100 m (330 ft) to 250 m (820 ft) higher than its current level, possibly due to lower evaporation than in the present. Its level fluctuated dramatically, rising to its highest level around 26,000 years ago, indicating a very wet climate in the Near East. Around 10,000 years ago, the lake's level dropped dramatically, probably even lower than today. During the last several thousand years, the lake has fluctuated approximately 400 m (1,300 ft), with some significant drops and rises. Current theories as to the cause of this dramatic drop in levels rule out volcanic activity; therefore, it may have been a seismic event.

 

Salt mounts formation

In prehistoric times,[dubious – discuss] great amounts of sediment collected on the floor of Lake Amora. The sediment was heavier than the salt deposits and squeezed the salt deposits upwards into what are now the Lisan Peninsula and Mount Sodom (on the southwest side of the lake). Geologists explain the effect in terms of a bucket of mud into which a large flat stone is placed, forcing the mud to creep up the sides of the bucket. When the floor of the Dead Sea dropped further due to tectonic forces, the salt mounts of Lisan and Mount Sodom stayed in place as high cliffs (see salt dome).

 

Climate

The Dead Sea has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), with year-round sunny skies and dry air. It has less than 50 millimetres (2 in) mean annual rainfall and a summer average temperature between 32 and 39 °C (90 and 102 °F). Winter average temperatures range between 20 and 23 °C (68 and 73 °F). The region has weaker ultraviolet radiation, particularly the UVB (erythrogenic rays). Given the higher atmospheric pressure, the air has a slightly higher oxygen content (3.3% in summer to 4.8% in winter) as compared to oxygen concentration at sea level. Barometric pressures at the Dead Sea were measured between 1061 and 1065 hPa and clinically compared with health effects at higher altitude. (This barometric measure is about 5% higher than sea level standard atmospheric pressure of 1013.25 hPa, which is the global ocean mean or ATM.) The Dead Sea affects temperatures nearby because of the moderating effect a large body of water has on climate. During the winter, sea temperatures tend to be higher than land temperatures, and vice versa during the summer months. This is the result of the water's mass and specific heat capacity. On average, there are 192 days above 30 °C (86 °F) annually.

 

Chemistry

With 34.2% salinity (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, though Lake Vanda in Antarctica (35%), Lake Assal in Djibouti (34.8%), Lagoon Garabogazköl in the Caspian Sea (up to 35%) and some hypersaline ponds and lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond (44%)) have reported higher salinities.

 

In the 19th century and the early 20th century, the surface layers of the Dead Sea were less salty than today, which resulted in an average density in the range of 1.15-1.17 g/cm3 instead of the present value of around 1.25 g/cm3. A sample tested by Bernays in the 19th century had a salinity of 19%. By the year 1926, the salinity had increased (although it was also suspected that the salinity varies seasonally and depends on the distance from the mouth of the Jordan).

 

Until the winter of 1978–79, when a major mixing event took place, the Dead Sea was composed of two stratified layers of water that differed in temperature, density, age, and salinity. The topmost 35 meters (115 ft) or so of the Dead Sea had an average salinity of about 30%, and a temperature that swung between 19 °C (66 °F) and 37 °C (99 °F). Underneath a zone of transition, the lowest level of the Dead Sea had waters of a consistent 22 °C (72 °F) temperature, salinity of over 34%, and complete saturation of sodium chloride (NaCl). Since the water near the bottom is saturated with NaCl, that salt precipitates out of solution onto the sea floor.

 

Beginning in the 1960s, water inflow to the Dead Sea from the Jordan River was reduced as a result of large-scale irrigation and generally low rainfall. By 1975, the upper water layer was saltier than the lower layer. Nevertheless, the upper layer remained suspended above the lower layer because its waters were warmer and thus less dense. When the upper layer cooled so its density was greater than the lower layer, the waters mixed (1978–79). For the first time in centuries, the lake was a homogeneous body of water. Since then, stratification has begun to redevelop.

 

The mineral content of the Dead Sea is very different from that of ocean water. The exact composition of the Dead Sea water varies mainly with season, depth and temperature. In the early 1980s, the concentration of ionic species (in g/kg) of Dead Sea surface water was Cl− (181.4), Br− (4.2), SO42− (0.4), HCO3− (0.2), Ca2+ (14.1), Na+ (32.5), K+ (6.2) and Mg2+ (35.2). The total salinity was 276 g/kg. These results show that the composition of the salt, as anhydrous chlorides on a weight percentage basis, was calcium chloride (CaCl2) 14.4%, potassium chloride (KCl) 4.4%, magnesium chloride (MgCl2) 50.8% and sodium chloride (NaCl) 30.4%. In comparison, the salt in the water of most oceans and seas is approximately 85% sodium chloride. The concentration of sulfate ions (SO42−) is very low, and the concentration of bromide ions (Br−) is the highest of all waters on Earth.

 

The salt concentration of the Dead Sea fluctuates around 31.5%. This is unusually high and results in a nominal density of 1.24 kg/L. Anyone can easily float in the Dead Sea because of natural buoyancy. In this respect the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah in the United States.

 

An unusual feature of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt. From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles and blocks of the black substance. Asphalt-coated figurines and bitumen-coated Neolithic skulls from archaeological sites have been found. Egyptian mummification processes used asphalt imported from the Dead Sea region.

 

Putative therapies

The Dead Sea area has become a location for health research and potential treatment for several reasons. The mineral content of the water, the low content of pollens and other allergens in the atmosphere, the reduced ultraviolet component of solar radiation, and the higher atmospheric pressure at this great depth each may have specific health effects. For example, persons experiencing reduced respiratory function from diseases such as cystic fibrosis seem to benefit from the increased atmospheric pressure.

 

The region's climate and low elevation have made it a popular center for assessment of putative therapies:

 

Climatotherapy: Treatment which exploits local climatic features such as temperature, humidity, sunshine, barometric pressure and special atmospheric constituents

 

Heliotherapy: Treatment that exploits the biological effects of the sun's radiation

 

Thalassotherapy: Treatment that exploits bathing in Dead Sea water

 

Climatotherapy at the Dead Sea may be a therapy for psoriasis by sunbathing for long periods in the area due to its position below sea level and subsequent result that UV rays are partially blocked by the increased thickness of the atmosphere[citation needed] over the Dead Sea.

 

Rhinosinusitis patients receiving Dead Sea saline nasal irrigation exhibited improved symptom relief compared to standard hypertonic saline spray in one study.

 

Dead Sea mud pack therapy has been suggested to temporarily relieve pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knees. According to researchers of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, treatment with mineral-rich mud compresses can be used to augment conventional medical therapy.

 

Life forms

The sea is called "dead" because its high salinity prevents macroscopic aquatic organisms, such as fish and aquatic plants, from living in it, though minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present.

 

In times of flood, the salt content of the Dead Sea can drop from its usual 35% to 30% or lower. The Dead Sea temporarily comes to life in the wake of rainy winters. In 1980, after one such rainy winter, the normally dark blue Dead Sea turned red. Researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem found the Dead Sea to be teeming with an alga called Dunaliella. Dunaliella in turn nourished carotenoid-containing (red-pigmented) halobacteria, whose presence caused the color change. Since 1980, the Dead Sea basin has been dry and the algae and the bacteria have not returned in measurable numbers.

 

In 2011 a group of scientists from Be'er Sheva, Israel and Germany discovered fissures in the floor of the Dead Sea by scuba diving and observing the surface. These fissures allow fresh and brackish water to enter the Dead Sea. They sampled biofilms surrounding the fissures and discovered numerous species of bacteria and archaea.

 

Fauna and flora around the lake

Many animal species live in the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea. Hikers can see ibex, hares, hyraxes, jackals, foxes, and even leopards. Hundreds of bird species inhabit the zone as well. Both Jordan and Israel have established nature reserves around the Dead Sea.

 

History

The delta of the Jordan River was formerly a jungle of papyrus and palm trees. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus described Jericho as "the most fertile spot in Judea". In Roman and Byzantine times, sugarcane, henna, and sycamore fig all made the lower Jordan valley wealthy. One of the most valuable products produced by Jericho was the sap of the balsam tree, which could be made into perfume. By the 19th century, Jericho's fertility had disappeared.

 

Human settlement

There are several small communities near the Dead Sea. These include Ein Gedi, Neve Zohar and the Israeli settlements in the Megilot Regional Council: Kalya, Mitzpe Shalem and Avnat. There is a nature preserve at Ein Gedi, and several Dead Sea hotels are located on the southwest end at Ein Bokek near Neve Zohar. Highway 90 runs north–south on the Israeli side for a total distance of 565 km (351 mi) from Metula on the Lebanese border in the north to its southern terminus at the Egyptian border near the Red Sea port of Eilat.

 

Potash City is a small community on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, and others including Suweima. Highway 65 runs north–south on the Jordanian side from near Jordan's northern tip down past the Dead Sea to the port of Aqaba.

 

Human history

Dwelling in caves near the Dead Sea is recorded in the Hebrew Bible as having taken place before the Israelites came to Canaan, and extensively at the time of King David.

 

Just northwest of the Dead Sea is Jericho. Somewhere, perhaps on the southeastern shore, would be the cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis which were said to have been destroyed in the time of Abraham: Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) and the three other "Cities of the Plain", Admah, Zeboim and Zoar (Deuteronomy 29:23). Zoar escaped destruction when Abraham's nephew Lot escaped to Zoar from Sodom (Genesis 19:21–22). Before the destruction, the Dead Sea was a valley full of natural tar pits, which was called the vale of Siddim. King David was said to have hidden from Saul at Ein Gedi nearby.

 

In Ezekiel 47:8–9 there is a specific prophecy that the sea will "be healed and made fresh", becoming a normal lake capable of supporting marine life. A similar prophecy is stated in Zechariah 14:8, which says that "living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea [likely the Dead Sea] and half to the western sea [the Mediterranean]."

 

Greek and Roman period

Greek and Jewish writers report that the Nabateans had monopolistic control over the Dead Sea.

 

Archaeological evidence shows multiple anchorages existing on both sides of the sea, including in Ein Gedi, Khirbet Mazin (where the ruins of a Hasmonean-era dry dock are located), Numeira and near Masada.

 

King Herod the Great built or rebuilt several fortresses and palaces on the western bank of the Dead Sea. The most famous was Masada, where in 70 CE a small group of Jewish zealots fled after the fall of the destruction of the Second Temple. The zealots survived until 73 CE, when a siege by the X Legion ended in the deaths by suicide of its 960 inhabitants. Another historically important fortress was Machaerus (מכוור), on the eastern bank, where, according to Josephus, John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas and died.

 

Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink, this would bear out what we have said. They say that this lake is so bitter and salt that no fish live in it and that if you soak clothes in it and shake them it cleans them. — Aristotle, Meteorology

 

Also in Roman times, some Essenes settled on the Dead Sea's western shore; Pliny the Elder identifies their location with the words, "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast ... the town of Engeda" (Natural History, Bk 5.73); and it is therefore a hugely popular but contested hypothesis today, that same Essenes are identical with the settlers at Qumran and that "the Dead Sea Scrolls" discovered during the 20th century in the nearby caves had been their own library.

 

Josephus identified the Dead Sea in geographic proximity to the ancient Biblical city of Sodom. However, he referred to the lake by its Greek name, Asphaltites.

 

Various sects of Jews settled in caves overlooking the Dead Sea. The best known of these are the Essenes of Qumran, who left an extensive library known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The town of Ein Gedi, mentioned many times in the Mishna, produced persimmon for the temple's fragrance and for export, using a secret recipe. "Sodomite salt" was an essential mineral for the temple's holy incense, but was said to be dangerous for home use and could cause blindness. The Roman camps surrounding Masada were built by Jewish slaves receiving water from the towns around the lake. These towns had drinking water from the Ein Feshcha springs and other sweetwater springs in the vicinity.

 

Byzantine period

Intimately connected with the Judean wilderness to its northwest and west, the Dead Sea was a place of escape and refuge. The remoteness of the region attracted Greek Orthodox monks since the Byzantine era. Their monasteries, such as Saint George in Wadi Kelt and Mar Saba in the Judaean Desert, are places of pilgrimage.

 

Modern times

In the 19th century the River Jordan and the Dead Sea were explored by boat primarily by Christopher Costigan in 1835, Thomas Howard Molyneux in 1847, William Francis Lynch in 1848, and John MacGregor in 1869. The full text of W. F. Lynch's 1949 book Narrative of the United States' Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea is available online. Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles travelled along the shores of the Dead Sea already in 1817–18, but didn't navigate on its waters.

 

Explorers and scientists arrived in the area to analyze the minerals and research the unique climate.

 

After the find of the "Moabite Stone" in 1868 on the plateau east of the Dead Sea, Moses Wilhelm Shapira and his partner Salim al-Khouri forged and sold a whole range of presumed "Moabite" antiquities, and in 1883 Shapira presented what is now known as the "Shapira Strips", a supposedly ancient scroll written on leather strips which he claimed had been found near the Dead Sea. The strips were declared to be forgeries and Shapira took his own life in disgrace.

 

The 1922 census of Palestine lists 100 people (68 Muslims and 32 Christians) with "Dead Sea & Jordan" as their main locality. The 1931 census shows a sharp increase with 535 people (264 Muslims, 230 Jews, 21 Christians, 17 Druze, and three with no religion) listing "Dead Sea" as their main village/town. The 1938 nor 1945 village statistics does not give a number for the general Dead Sea area.

 

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, hundreds of religious documents dated between 150 BCE and 70 CE were found in caves near the ancient settlement of Qumran, about one mile (1.6 kilometres) inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea (presently in the West Bank). They became known and famous as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

The world's lowest roads, Highway 90, run along the Israeli and West Bank shores of the Dead Sea, along with Highway 65 on the Jordanian side, at 393 m (1,289 ft) below sea level.

 

Tourism and leisure

A golf course named for Sodom and Gomorrah was built by the British at Kalia on the northern shore.

 

Israel

The first major Israeli hotels were built in nearby Arad, and since the 1960s at the Ein Bokek resort complex.

 

Israel has 15 hotels along the Dead Sea shore, generating total revenues of $291 million in 2012. Most Israeli hotels and resorts on the Dead Sea are on a six-kilometre (3.7-mile) stretch of the southern shore.

 

Jordan

On the Jordanian side, nine international franchises have opened seaside resort hotels near the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center, along with resort apartments, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The 9 hotels have boosted the Jordanian side's capacity to 2,800 rooms.

 

On November 22, 2015, the Dead Sea panorama road was included along with 40 archaeological locations in Jordan, to become live on Google Street View.

 

Palestine (West Bank)

The portion of Dead Sea coast which Palestinians could possibly eventually manage is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) long. The World Bank estimates that such Dead Sea tourism industry could generate $290 million of revenues per year and 2,900 jobs. However, Palestinians have been unable to obtain construction permits for tourism-related investments on the Dead Sea. According to the World Bank, officials in the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities state that the only way to apply for such permits is through the Joint Committees established under the Oslo Agreement, but the relevant committee has not met with any degree of regularity since 2000.

 

View of salt evaporation pans on the Dead Sea, taken in 1989 from the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-28). The southern half is separated from the northern half at what used to be the Lisan Peninsula because of the fall in level of the Dead Sea.

 

View of the mineral evaporation ponds almost 12 years later (STS-102). A northern and small southeastern extension were added and the large polygonal ponds subdivided.

 

The dwindling water level of the Dead Sea

In the early part of the 20th century, the Dead Sea began to attract interest from chemists who deduced the sea was a natural deposit of potash (potassium chloride) and bromine. A concession was granted by the British Mandatory government to the newly formed Palestine Potash Company in 1929. Its founder, Siberian Jewish engineer and pioneer of Lake Baikal exploitation, Moses Novomeysky, had worked for the charter for over ten years having first visited the area in 1911. The first plant, on the north shore of the Dead Sea at Kalya, commenced production in 1931 and produced potash by solar evaporation of the brine. Employing Arabs and Jews, it was an island of peace in turbulent times. In 1934 built a second plant on the southwest shore, in the Mount Sodom area, south of the 'Lashon' region of the Dead Sea. Palestine Potash Company supplied half of Britain's potash during World War II. Both plants were destroyed by the Jordanians in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

 

Israel

The Dead Sea Works was founded in 1952 as a state-owned enterprise based on the remnants of the Palestine Potash Company.[68] In 1995, the company was privatized and it is now owned by Israel Chemicals. From the Dead Sea brine, Israel produces (2001) 1.77 million tons potash, 206,000 tons elemental bromine, 44,900 tons caustic soda, 25,000 tons magnesium metal, and sodium chloride. Israeli companies generate around US$3 billion annually from the sale of Dead Sea minerals (primarily potash and bromine), and from other products that are derived from Dead Sea Minerals.

 

Jordan

On the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, Arab Potash (APC), formed in 1956, produces 2.0 million tons of potash annually, as well as sodium chloride and bromine. The plant is located at Safi, South Aghwar Department, in the Karak Governorate.

 

Jordanian Dead Sea mineral industries generate about $1.2 billion in sales (equivalent to 4 percent of Jordan's GDP).

 

West Bank

The Palestinian Dead Sea Coast is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) long. The Palestinian economy is unable to benefit from Dead Sea chemicals due to restricted access, permit issues and the uncertainties of the investment climate. The World Bank estimates that a Palestinian Dead Sea chemicals industry could generate $918M incremental value added per year, "almost equivalent to the contribution of the entire manufacturing sector of Palestinian territories today".

 

Extraction

Both companies, Dead Sea Works Ltd. and Arab Potash, use extensive salt evaporation pans that have essentially diked the entire southern end of the Dead Sea for the purpose of producing carnallite, potassium magnesium chloride, which is then processed further to produce potassium chloride. The ponds are separated by a central dike that runs roughly north–south along the international border. The power plant on the Israeli side allows production of magnesium metal (by a subsidiary, Dead Sea Magnesium Ltd.).

 

Due to the popularity of the sea's therapeutic and healing properties, several companies have also shown interest in the manufacturing and supplying of Dead Sea salts as raw materials for body and skin care products.

 

Recession and environmental concerns

Since 1930, when its surface was 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) and its level was 390 m (1,280 ft) below sea level, the Dead Sea has been monitored continuously. The Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking since the 1960s because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north as part of the National Water Carrier scheme, completed in 1964. The southern end is fed by a canal maintained by the Dead Sea Works, a company that converts the sea's raw materials. From a water surface of 395 m (1,296 ft) below sea level in 1970 it fell 22 m (72 ft) to 418 m (1,371 ft) below sea level in 2006, reaching a drop rate of 1 m (3 ft) per year. As the water level decreases, the characteristics of the Sea and surrounding region may substantially change.

 

The Dead Sea level drop has been followed by a groundwater level drop, causing brines that used to occupy underground layers near the shoreline to be flushed out by freshwater. This is believed to be the cause of the recent appearance of large sinkholes along the western shore—incoming freshwater dissolves salt layers, rapidly creating subsurface cavities that subsequently collapse to form these sinkholes. As of 2021 Ein Gedi, on the western coast, has been subject to a large number of sinkholes appearing in the area, attributed to the decline in the water level of the Dead Sea.

 

As of 2021, the surface of the Sea has shrunk by about 33 percent since the 1960s, which is partly attributed to the much-reduced flow of the Jordan River since the construction of the National Water Carrier project, and the amount of water from the rains reaching the Dead Sea has diminished even further since flash floods started pouring into the sinkholes. The EcoPeace Middle East, a joint Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian environmental group, has estimated that the annual flow into the Dead Sea from the Jordan is as of 2021 less than 100,000,000 cubic metres (3.5×109 cu ft) of water, compared with former flows of between 1,200,000,000 cubic metres (4.2×1010 cu ft) and 1,300,000,000 cubic metres (4.6×1010 cu ft).

 

YearWater level (m)Surface (km2)

1930−3901050

1980−400680

1992−407675

1997−411670

2004−417662

2010−423655

2016−430.5605

Sources: Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haaretz, Jordan Valley Authority.

 

Link to the Red Sea

In May 2009 at the World Economic Forum, Jordan introduced plans for a "Jordan National Red Sea Development Project" (JRSP). This is a plan to convey seawater from the Red Sea near Aqaba to the Dead Sea. Water would be desalinated along the route to provide fresh water to Jordan, with the brine discharge sent to the Dead Sea for replenishment. Israel has expressed its support and will likely benefit from some of the water delivery to its Negev region.

 

At a regional conference in July 2009, officials expressed concern about the declining water levels. Some suggested industrial activities around the Dead Sea might need to be reduced. Others advised environmental measures to restore conditions such as increasing the volume of flow from the Jordan River to replenish the Dead Sea. Currently, only sewage and effluent from fish ponds run in the river's channel. Experts also stressed the need for strict conservation efforts. They said agriculture should not be expanded, sustainable support capabilities should be incorporated into the area and pollution sources should be reduced.

 

In October 2009, the Jordanians accelerated plans to extract around 300 million cubic metres (11 billion cubic feet) of water per year from the Red Sea, desalinate it for use as fresh water and send the waste water to the Dead Sea by tunnel, despite concerns about inadequate time to assess the potential environmental impact. According to Jordan's minister for water, General Maysoun Zu'bi, this project could be considered as the first phase of the Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance.

 

In December 2013, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement for laying a water pipeline to link the Red Sea with the Dead Sea. The pipeline would be 180 km (110 mi) long and is estimated to take up to five years to complete. In January 2015 it was reported that the level of water was dropping by 1 m (3.3 ft) a year.

 

On 27 November 2016, the Jordanian government shortlisted five consortia to implement the project. Jordan's ministry of Water and Irrigation said that the $100 million first phase of the project would begin construction in the first quarter of 2018, and would be completed by 2021. The project was officially abandoned in June 2021, having never broken ground.

 

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

 

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

August 2012 Fred Astaire showcase, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, Arizona

August 2012 Fred Astaire showcase, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, Arizona

August 2012 showcase, Fred Astaire studios, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, Arizona

Fred Astaire showcase, Mesa Arts Center, January 2013

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

Mission Impossible Assignment:

 

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it is - Read "Love of Kindness" and write a book report. Use photography to make a point or to add something of value.

 

I can now say that "Love of Kindness," which is "Chafetz Chayim" = "חָפֵץ חַיִּיִּם" in Hebrew, is a fantastic book. I had heard about it, a number of times, and had been meaning to read it, but life kept getting in the way...;))

 

The physical pages are dull grey and white, aka B&W. However, the writings feel red hot, like the burning bush or molten glass... I changed the page colors a bit to capture those shades of emotional intensity...

 

One might call it Emoticolor. No, it's not Technicolor. Yes, I made up the word Emoticolor as a contraction of Emotion and Color.

 

Last week, a copy of the book was on the table where I usually sit and stand for Evening and Night services at my local Synagogue. I knew right away what that meant. I don't believe in accidents, so I took this serendipitous occurrence as a gentle message as to what I should be reading next. I don't have a copy of the book, so I've been sneaking in random pages between focusing on the service.

 

How do I select pages? I use a tried and true method that I perfected in childhood. I open a book at random and start to read. If I have trouble closing the book, I know it's a read. I do open and read once near the end, then near the middle, and then near the beginning. If it hasn't grabbed me, after those tries, I decide it's not for me.

 

I tried that with Ahavat Chesed, Love of Kindness. No matter where I open the book and read, I have trouble stopping to return to praying!! And it's grabbed my attention during the rest of the day, even when I am not anywhere near the book.

 

__________________________________________________________

www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/chofetz.html

The Chofetz Chaim - Rabbi Yisroel Meir HaKohen

 

(1838-1933)

 

Rabbi Yisroel Meir HaKohen was one of the greatest figures in modern Jewish history. He was recognized as both an outstanding scholar and an extraordinarily righteous man. His impact on Judaism was phenomenal. It is interesting to note that, despite his great stature, he refused to accept any rabbinical position and supported himself from a small grocery run by his saintly wife in the town of Radin where they lived. Rabbi Yisroel Meir devoted himself to the study and teaching of Torah.

 

Rabbi Yisroel Meir is perhaps best known for his campaign to teach his fellow Jews about the laws of Lashon Hara (forbidden [i.e., evil] speech). When he was 35 (1873) he published his first book, Chofetz Chaim, which was devoted to this topic. The name comes from Tehillim (Psalms) 34, “Who is the man that desires life (chofetz chaim)… keep your tongue from evil….” He later published two more books on this subject. As has often happened to Judaism’s great leaders, Rabbi Yisroel Meir became known by the name of his book and is known worldwide as the Chofetz Chaim.

  

My Next Assignment? What about the book called "The Desirer of Life" = "The Chofetz Chayim" in Hebrew

__________________________________________________________

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chafetz_Chaim_(book)

"The Chofetz Chaim" (or Chafetz Chaim or Hafetz Hayim) (Hebrew: חָפֵץ חַיִּים) (trans. Desirer of Life) is a book on the Jewish laws of speech written by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan.

 

The title of the work Chafetz Chaim by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan is taken from Psalms 34:12–15:

"Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of God. Who is the man that desires life; who loves days, that he may see goodness [during them]? Guard your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit; turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it." [1]

 

The subject of the book is Lashon Hara (evil speech, or loosely: gossip and slander and prohibitions of defamation.) Rabbi Kagan provides copious sources from the Torah, Talmud and Rishonim (early commentators) about the severity of Jewish law on tale-mongering and gossip.

 

Lashon hara, meaning evil speech, is sometimes translated as prohibitions of slander, but in essence is concerning the prohibitions of saying evil/bad/unpleasant things about a person, that are true.

 

The book is divided into three parts:

Mekor chayim ("Source of Life"), the legal text.

Be'er mayim chayim ("Well of living water"), the footnotes and legal argument.

It is commonly printed together with the text Shemirath ha-Lashon ("Guarding of the tongue"), an ethical treatise on the proper use of the faculty of speech.

 

Mosaic-2

Army Master Sgt. Lashon Wilson, Project Manager Soldier Maneuver Sensors senior enlisted adviser, helps Shayla Miller, PM SMS cost analyst, get familiar with the latest in Rapid Target Acquisition technology that wirelessly connects the weapon’s thermal sensor and reticle with the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle III. The thermal sensor, called the Family of Weapon Sights-Individual, mounts in front of the M68 Close Combat Optic. Miller is one of several members of PM SMS who received hands-on familiarization with one of the latest capabilities being developed for Soldiers. The familiarization training was conducted at the Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center’s “Night Vision Tunnel” at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. PM SMS is part of Project Manager Soldier Sensors an Lasers within Program Executive Office Soldier.

Fred Astaire showcase, Mesa Arts Center, January 2013.

Fred Astaire showcase, Mesa Arts Center, January 2013. They were performing to "American Woman."

one of the bottles taken out of the package. i really really love the 'lash*on' font & the eye that's drawn around it. so cool......

mid 60s stuff you put on your lashes to make them look super thick. the instruction book says to paint it on over your mascara'd lashes. ick. these retailed for $1.25 at the bon marche department store. wonder what they'd do if i brought them in for a refund? ;)

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

August 2012 showcase, Fred Astaire studios, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, Arizona

[M] Mickey's Burgers Outfit

(Mickey Tank Version Not Shown)

Tank & Skirt (One Piece) ~ For Baby TD Only.

Comes With Color Change HUD Packed With:

~ 6 Dotted Skirt Textures

~ 2 Cute Tanks (Mickey's Burgers & Plain White)

Outfit will be sold exclusively at Emani LaShon Everett's Bail Out.

Then it will be deleted from my inventory.

More Info Coming Soon.

100% Original Mesh

100% Original Textures

 

All proceeds from the sales of this outfit will be donated at the end of the event to help bail Emani out and all the proceeds of the event go to help #autism.

 

<3

February 2012 Fred Astaire showcase, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, Arizona. Taken with my nearly seven-year-old Nikon D50 camera and 50mm f/1.8D lens. The performers are LaShon Placencia, Cheryl Anderson, Mytia McNeal, and Andi Wolff.

This Image contains on the topic of Lashon ke Anbar from book Naiki ki Dawat.

 

All the Viewers are requested to kindly share this Image to as many people as you can and post your Comments about this Photo. It will be sadqa-e-jaria for us.

 

www.dawateislami.net

 

Join us on Face Book:

www.facebook.com/dawateislami.net

 

Follow us on Twitter:

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Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

Esther 6:11 - So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, "This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!"

---

Mordecai or Mordechai (Hebrew: מָרְדְּכַי, Modern Mordechai, Tiberian Mordŏḵáy, Persian: مردخای‎‎, IPA value: [moʁdoˈχaj]) is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He was the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin.

 

Mordecai resided in Susa (Shushan or Shoushan), the metropolis of Persia (now Iran). He adopted his orphaned cousin (Esther 2:7), Hadassah (Esther), whom he brought up as if she were his own daughter. When "young virgins" were sought, she was taken into the presence of King Ahasuerus and was made queen in the place of the exiled queen Vashti. Mordecai was referred to subsequently as one of those who "sat in the king's gate" to indicate his position of closeness to the king. While holding this office, he discovered a plot of the king's chamberlains Bigthan and Teresh to assassinate the king. Because of Mordecai's vigilance, the plot was foiled. His services to the king in this matter were duly recorded in the king's royal diary.

 

Haman the Agagite had been raised to the highest position at court. In spite of the king's decree that all should prostrate themselves before Haman, Mordecai refused to do so. Though the Hebrew Scriptures attest to Israelites or Jews bowing out of respect and submission (e.g. Gen. 33: 3; 1 Sam. 24:8), Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites, their ancient enemies (Esther 3:1; 1 Sam. 15:8). Haman, stung by Mordecai's refusal, resolved to accomplish his death in a wholesale murder of the Jewish exiles throughout the Persian empire. Learning of Haman's scheme, Mordecai communicated with Queen Esther regarding it, and by her bold intervention the scheme was frustrated by distributing arms to the Jews of Susa and other Persian cities where they lived and clashed with Haman's militia, until the king rescinded the edict to murder the empire's Jews. Mordecai was raised to a high rank, donned in the royal gray cloak, and Haman was executed on gallows he had by anticipation erected for Mordecai. In memory of the deliverance thus wrought for them, the Jews to this day celebrate the feast of Purim or "Lots" because of the lots that were drawn by Haman to decide the date on which the slaughter of the Jews would take place.

 

The Biblical account ends: "And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking goodliness for his people, and speaking peace to all his seed." (Esther 10:2–3)

 

The name "Mordecai" is of uncertain origin but is considered identical to the name Marduka or Marduku attested as the name of officials in the Persian court in thirty texts (the Persepolis Administrative Archives) from the period of Xerxes I and his father Darius, and may refer to up to four individuals, one of which might have served as the prototype for the biblical Mordecai.

 

The name is commonly interpreted as a theophoric name referring to the god Marduk with the understanding that it means "[servant/follower/devotee] of Marduk" in Aramaic. (The Book of Daniel contains similar accounts of Jews living in exile in Babylonia being assigned names relating to Babylonian gods.) Some suggest that as Marduk was a war-god, the expression "[servant] of Marduk" may simply denote a warrior – the popular translation of "warrior" is commonly found in naming dictionaries. Others note that Marduk was the creator in Babylonian mythology whence the term might have been understood by Jews to mean simply "[servant] of God".

 

The Talmud (Menachot 64b and 65a) relates that his full name was "Mordechai Bilshan" (which occurs in Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 7:7). Hoschander interpreted this as the Babylonian marduk-bel-shunu meaning "Marduk is their lord", "Mordecai" being thus a hypocorism.

 

Another interpretation of the name is that it is of Persian origin meaning "little boy". Other suggested meanings of "contrition" (Hebrew root m-r-d), "bitter" (Hebrew root m-r) or "bruising" (Hebrew root r-d-d) are listed in Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary of the late 19th century. There is also speculation that the name is derived from Aramaic mar dochi; mar being a title address for a gentleman and dochi, meaning "one who incurs merit" (cf. Hebrew zoche).

 

The Talmud provides a Midrashic interpretation of the name Mordechai Bilshan as mara dachia ("pure myrrh") alluding to Exodus 30:23 and ba'al lashon ("master of languages") reminding us that as a member of the Great Assembly he was familiar with many foreign languages.

 

In the King James Version of the deuterocanonical Greek additions to Esther, his name is spelled as Mardocheus.

 

The Pentecostal minister Finis Dake interprets the Bible verses Esther 2:5–6 ("Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah") to mean that Mordecai himself was exiled by Nebuchadnezzar.

 

Biblical scholar Michael D. Coogan discusses this as an inaccuracy regarding Mordecai's age. In the passage, either Mordecai or his great-grandfather Kish is identified as having been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar (in 597 BC). If this refers to Mordecai, he would have had to live over a century to have witnessed the events described in the Book of Esther (assuming the biblical Ahasuerus is indeed Xerxes I). However, the verse may be read as referring not to Mordecai's exile to Babylon, but to his great-grandfather Kish's exile—a reading which many accept.

 

The Talmud lists Mordecai and Esther as prophets. The Talmud says Mordecai prophesied in the second year of Darius.

 

Mordecai's genealogy in the second chapter of the Book of Esther is given as a descendant of Kish of the Tribe of Benjamin. Kish was also the name of the father of King Saul, and the Talmud accords Mordecai the status of a descendant of the first King of Israel.

 

The Targum Sheni gives his genealogy in more detail, as follows: "Mordecai, son of Ya'ir, son of Shim'i, son of Shmida, son of Baana, son of Eila, son of Micah, son of Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, son of Kish, son of Aviel, son of Tzror, son of Bechorath, son of Aphiah, son of Sh'charim, son of Uziah, son of Sheshak, son of Michael, son of Elyael, son of Amihud, son of Shephatya, son of Psuel, son of Pison, son of Malikh, son of Jerubaal, son of Yerucham, son of Chananya, son of Zavdi, son of Elpo'al, son of Shimri, son of Zecharya, son of Merimoth, son of Hushim, son of Sh'chora, son of 'Azza, son of Gera, son of Benjamin, son of Jacob the firstborn, whose name is called Israel." (Wikipedia)

E aqui estão os meus 3 vampirões. Seres seduzentes. Noitadas eternas. Chups Chups para maior de 18 e

 

Zero: Quer parar? ¬¬

Eu: ÇuÇ okay okay U-U

Vamos introduzir uma breve e educativa explicação sobre os jovens de família com descendencia vampiresca

Lash: Pareceu o meu pai falando agora

Zero: Nãoooo ¬¬ Meu vô não fala assim

Eu: POSSO FALAR ENTÃO???

ÙnÚ-- Antes, vocês tem algum problema em falar suas idades?

Todos: De boas~

Ótimo~

 

Vou contar um pouco cada um deles e algumas curiosidades, porque sou complicada de apresentar os personagens ¬w¬''

 

Primeiro!!!

Existe um padrão para os vampiros: Não suportam a luz do sol; Se alimentam de sangue, mas não quer dizer que todos são FIELMENTE iguais. Tem suas particularidades.

 

Rehvenge é o vampiro mais velho da casa. Ele tem 900 anos Produtos Jequiti, tá U-U e é um mestiço. Meio vampiro e meio symphato.

Symphato é uma ramificação do galho dos vampiros. Seres da noite, pálidos, possuindo poderes psiquicos e se alimentando de sentimentos de outros seres.

Como ele é meio possui dependencias de ambas as partes, mas ele se recusa a aceitar o lado symphato. Por isso,Rehv toma muitos remédios para inibir esses instintos, mas causando feitos colaterais como a perca do tato e crises de hipotermia.

 

Lash já é um vampiro inteiro. Nascido de mãe e pai vampiros. Com seus 489 anos Também. Muuuuuuuito hidratante ele nasceu um nobre, mas abandonou tudo para seguir seu coração pelos mares, abraçando a pirataria.

Antes de se tornar um pirata, Lash era um lorde e muito respeitado tanto pela sua familia, como por sua inteligencia.

Imagina o melhor aluno da Corvinal. Agora triplica isso. É o Lash. Sendo um pouco arrogante e frio, mas mudando totalmente depois de sair do mundo de dinheiro facil e mimos.

Ah! Lash é o apelido dele, porque seu nome verdadeiro é Lashon. ( Se lê Léquission ---G_G'''nossa...) mas ele teve que aderir um outro nome para ninguém reconhece-lo.

 

E o Zero! Novinho, inocente MENTIRA, tem 21 anos e é um vampiro sangue-puro. Filho de mãe e pai vampiros.

Ele sem dúvidas é o que tem o status e poder em quesito de sangue vampiro. É principe e descendente dos primeiro vampiros do mundo!

 

Tá, qual a diferença do Lash e do Zero? Zero descende dos primeiros vampiros, Lash não. >uO

Mas isso não é tão importante se for pensar o quanto o Lash é esperto perto do Zero!

Zero: EI! ÒAÓ

VOLTANDO U-U'''''''''''''

 

Na verdade, o Zero é quem tem a história mais complicada, porque a pureza do seu sangue é questionavel.

Sua mãe era noiva do próprio irmão, ambos sangue-puro, porém se apaixonou por um outro homem, que era um humano transformado em vampiro e por uma fugidinha, ela engravidou!

Sabendo que era impossivel o amor dele, ela escondeu o fato e se casou com o irmão, fingindo que a gravidez era do mesmo. Ah e não foi um só não. Eram gêmeos!

 

Então você pensa: "Ah, então o Zero não é sangue-puro completo. Ele tem partes"

Sim. Mas o Zero possui poderes que apenas verdadeiros sangues puros possuem, então... \o/

Ah! Ninguém pode saber disso G-G shhhhh....

 

Ficou bem grande o-o eita xDD

Pra quem leu até o fim, esses são os meus vampiros e um pouquinho de suas vidas.

E pra quem souber as referências...HEHE Zero Kuran. (Vampire Knight)

Rehvenge, devorador de pecados (Irmandade da Adaga Negra -IGUALZINHO DO LIVRO)

O Lash é um apanhado de um monte de coisa U-U Tem Irmandade, tem Code Geass XDDD

^^/

 

February 2012 showcase, Fred Astaire studios, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, Arizona

Testimonial submitted by www.facebook.com/melanie.lashon

February 2012 Fred Astaire showcase, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, Arizona

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

Desert Dance Challenge, 2011

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lashon_hara