Dead Sea
Descending down the winding road, from an ancient modern city named Arad, one soon gets the sensation of entering a landscape that looks more like a test range for a moon rover. The sides of the road show no vegetation except for an occasional lone Acacia tree. The road signs warn of camels and another twisting curve. This is a region that screams for the visitor to stay on the road and continue at your own risk.
With ones ears beginning to close as the traveling downhill continues, suddenly there is a mirage that appears at the end of the twisting descent. In all its majestic glory the traveler is revealed a turquoise sea below that beckons him to its shores. At ~425 meters below sea level, this is the lowest point on the continental planet earth and marks as well the lowest sea water surface on earth. This is a distinguished honor to place on a topographic landmark.
The Dead Sea itself started to form geologically some 5 million years ago. The rift valley here is part of a 6000 mile long Syrian/African valley that stretches in the north from the Becca valley in Lebanon all the way down to Mozambique in Eastern Africa. The valley is known here locally as the Dead Sea Valley. It is an active geological zone that shows off the separation and moving of two huge tectonic plates; the African Plate on the western side that includes Israel and the Arabian Plate on the eastern side that includes Jordan.
With no outlet to connect its water to the oceans, the Dead Sea is land locked and acts as a huge evaporation basin. The water that collects here is subjected to extreme boiling hot desert temperatures that result in much water evaporation and as a result dramatically increase the salty mineral content to 10X that of the oceans. This high salinity prevents any life from surviving in its waters and hence the name Dead Sea. Believe me, you don’t want to taste this salty water or have it drench an open cut. What you do want is to experience the oily sensation of this water that acts as a buoy making you unsinkable as you bob up and down.
Known for its minerals, the sea has been mined for millenniums. The Egyptians used asphalt found in the sea for mummification, kept out those flesh eating worms. The ancient Israelites, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders all mined the valuable salt in the area that was needed for food preservation. Salt as a preservative became a metaphor for disciples of Jesus preserving his teachings "You are the Salt of the Earth". Today, the southern end of the sea has been set up with many evaporation ponds to harvest the valuable minerals; Potassium, Bromide, and Magnesium. Cosmetic firms have taken the Dead Sea mud and turned it into economic gold. People flock from all over the world to spas dotting the shore that offer treatments for dermatological conditions. The Dead Sea might not have any life inside but the shores are living with miners and tourists.
