What is happening at the Dead Sea?

It is a body of water surrounded by land with no large or significant outlet to the sea or another body of water, it is famous for several facts, including its high amount of salt that prevents life in its waters and favors objects float in them, and their mention in several passages of the Bible.

Located between the borders of Israel and Jordan, more than 400 meters below sea level. This fact also makes it the lowest point on Earth. It is so salty because it does not have a drain, which means that evaporation is the only outlet for the water, leaving only minerals and salts.

The Dead Sea is the deepest aquatic environment on the earth’s surface, not counting the oceans. However, the amount of water in it has been dropping dramatically for years. The Jordan River is the most important source of water for this sea, which is actually a lake. Much of this change is due to the construction of dams, pipelines, and pumping stations to divert its fresh water. Thus, only 5% of the 1.3 million cubic meters of water from the Jordan River that should reach it reaches the Dead Sea.

Let’s perform the following experiment to observe the drastic change that the Dead Sea undergoes.