Bodies of Water
The Dead Sea
Also Known As Bahr al-Mayyit Arabic for "Sea of Death"; the English name Dead Sea is a direct translation of this Arabic name by way of Greek and Latin. · Yam HaMelach Hebrew for "Sea of Salt," the most common name for the sea in both biblical and modern Hebrew.
Seas
The Dead Sea is a hypersaline lake on the border of Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan, fed chiefly by the Jordan River. Its shoreline marks the lowest point on the surface of the Earth's continents, roughly 430 meters below sea level, and its extreme salinity, several times that of the open ocean, keeps most life out of its waters and lets bathers float without effort. Decades of upstream diversion have shrunk its surface area and lowered its level by roughly a meter a year.
Facts
Area (sq km)The Dead Sea's surface area is shrinking by roughly one percent a year as upstream diversion reduces inflow; the figure given is a recent published estimate, not a fixed constant. Maximum Depth (m) Elevation (m) Connections
Associated With
Source Jordan River (Wikipedia)
The Dead Sea sits within the Levant, on the Israel-Jordan boundary the region's narrow definition names.
Borders
Source Dead Sea (Wikipedia)
Source Dead Sea (Wikipedia)
Shaped By
Source Dead Sea (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. National Geographic Atlas of the World
National Geographic Society, 2019
2. United States Geological Survey
3. Dead Sea (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationInfobox, Length (northern basin only, since the southern basin dried and is now industrial evaporation ponds)
50 km (31 mi)
Infobox, Coordinates field
31.500N 35.500E
Lead section, elevation clause
making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth
Borders: Jordan, Lead section
a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest
Borders: Israel, Lead section
a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest
Shaped By: Continental Rifting, Lead paragraph
It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.
View the Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Wikidata: The Dead Sea
Jordan River (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Jordan River, Lead section, opening sentenceQuote, Associated With: Jordan River, Lead section, opening sentence
is a 251-kilometre-long (156 mi) endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead Sea.
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