Home  |  E-Mail  |  Download Lessons  |  Interactive Quiz

Many Things In Common  |  The Arabs  |  Deserts  |  Bedouins
Oil  |  The Dead Sea  |  The Suez Canal  |  The Aswan Dam
 
Time and Space

Prehistory

Mesopotamia

Ancient Egypt

Western Religions

The Middle East and North Africa

Conflicts in the Middle East

African History

Africa Today

India and the Himalayas

China

Japan

Ancient Greece

Rome

The Middle Ages

The Renaissance

The World Wars

Russia and Communism

Canada

The Caribbean

Mexico and Central America

South America

The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is not a sea, but a 50-mile long by 11-mile wide salt lake The Dead Seabetween Israel and Jordan. We call it a sea because it is salty like a sea or the ocean.

The Dead Sea is the lowest body of water on earth, nearly one-quarter mile below sea level. Water from the Jordan River flows in, but because the Dead Sea is lower than the land around it, no water can drain out. The hot desert sun evaporates the water about as fast as it flows in from the river, leaving behind salt and other minerals from the Jordan.

People can easily float on the surface of Dead Sea because it about seven times saltier than the ocean. When they get out of the water, they have a salty crust left on their skin. Any fish carried in from the Jordan die instantly Floating on the Sead Seawhen they reach the Dead Sea.

Other salty lakes exist in dry areas around the world. The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest lake. The Romans thought they had reached the ocean upon finding the Caspian because it was salty. Utah’s Great Salt Lake and the Aral Sea in Asia are also salty lakes.

NEXT:  The Suez Canal

To cite this page:
Dowling, Mike, "Mr. Dowling's Dead Sea Page," available from http://www.mrdowling.com/607deadsea.html; Internet; updated Wednesday, September 15, 2004->-> .. ©2008, Mike Dowling. All rights reserved.