LAWRENCE
NEMEH
2014

 One of the saltiest seas in the world
 Lowest elevation of the world, deepest salt lake in the world
 Virtually impossible to host life = DEAD
 Density, the floating effect
 Vital interest for the region

 Rapid recession of the Dead
Sea’s surface level
 Surface level from -395m to
-418m between 1970-
2006
 20m total, or 1m/year

 Rising populations
 Expanding agricultural sectors
 Dams
 Major industrial activities
 Dead Sea Works processing potash from the man made evaporation ponds in the southern part of the sea

 Sinkhole phenomenon
 Desiccation, groundwater level recedes, allows freshwater to invade underground layers, displacing brines, dissolving salt layers, creating new cavities until ground surface collapses
 Impacts the integrity of the land, commercial interests
(hotels, restaurants) and lives

 Agreement between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian
Authority
 Mission: transporting water north from the Red Sea to the
Dead Sea
 Desalination facility to purify half the water for Jordanians and Palestinians and for Israel’s use in the Arava and Eilat
 Plans began in 2009, aiming for production in 2017

 ~100,000 years ago: Dead Sea almost dried up
 Geologists from the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at
Columbia University
 Drilled a core to analyze about 250,000 of sediment history
 Discovered 45-meter salt layer within the core