Visiting the Shrinking Dead Sea
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
Visiting the Dead Sea has always been an amazing experience for most tourists. It is home to some of the most famous biblical sites and is also the lowest point on the earth at around 1,312 feet below sea level. It is also becoming one of the most dangerous places for unsuspecting tourists or even those knowledgeable visitors that are just not paying attention.The waters that enter the Dead Sea are land locked. The only place that the water can go is up and as it evaporates it leaves behind concentrations of salts and minerals. These layers of minerals once filled the underground surrounding the Dead Sea and have been dissolved as the Dead Sea has receded from overuse. One spa that was built on the Dead Sea 25 years ago is now about one mile from the Dead Sea.
The dissolving of the salts and minerals under the ground has left massive sink holes around the Dead Sea. It is estimated that there are around 3,000 sinkholes along the coast and even more that have not yet opened up. Signs are posted to warn of the dangers but hikers and tourists have still fallen into trouble.
The sink holes have been discovered on both sides of the Dead Sea. Israel and Jordan both began diverting water in the 1960s. Since that time the Dead Sea has shrunk by about 1/3 of its size. .
The Dead Sea runs for about 60 miles along the West Bank. It is currently in the running for a new list of the Seven Wonders of the World. Experts are worried that the interference by humans combined with the extreme drought in the region will result in the Dead Sea losing another third of its size in the years to come. There are plans being put together to help replenish the waters of the Dead Sea but the price tags leave little hope that anything will actually be done.
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