The
Dead
Sea
Location/Formation
• Located between Jordan, The West Bank, and
Israel.
• Just outside of the traditional tropics, between
30.5 and 31.5 degrees north latitude
• The Dead Sea Transform
• The DST is located between the African and
Arabian tectonic plates.
Weather and Climate
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Hot and dry climate
Average rainfall: 47 mm
Average precipitation days: 15
Average summer temperature: 27 – 40 oC
Average winter temperature: 11 – 21 oC
Average yearly temperature: 22 – 30 oC
Sources of Inflow
Inflow:
• Ground water
• Rain water
• Surface water
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Jordan River,
Zerqa,
Mujib,
Karak,
Hasa,
Araba,
Harod,
Quilt,
Malih,
Mishash,
Arugot,
Morphometric Data
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Max length
Max width
Surface area
Average depth
Max depth
Water volume
Shore length
Density
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67 km
18 km
810 km2
118 m
377 m
147 km3
135 km
1.24 kg/L
Salinity
• 33.7% salinity
• 8.6 times saltier than the oceans
• There is roughly 300 grams of salt per
kilogram of seawater
• There are 35 different types of minerals that
make up the salts in the lake
Chemical Composition (in G l -1):
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Mg = 44
Ca = 17.2
Na = 40.1
K = 7.7
Cl = 224.9
Br = 5.3
SO4 = 0.45
HCO3 = 0.1
Total Dissolved Salts
= 339.6
• Density = 1.232
Layered in the Lake
More Stratification
Life in and around the Dead Sea
Recorded to have been seen
near the Dead Sea Lake:
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Camels
Ibex
Hares
Hyraxes
Jackals
Foxes
Leopards
Birds
• 152 species of plankton and
periphyton were identified
in the Jordan River (Tavassi
2008).
• Cyanoprokaryota
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Bacillariophyceae
Chlorophyta
Chrysophyta
Cryptophyta
Dinophyta
Euglenophyta
Rhodophyta
Xanthophyta
Evaporation Ponds
• The evaporation ponds in the southern portion of the dead sea
are responsible for the production of Sodium Chloride and
Potassium salts. In recent years there has been an increase in the
demand of these chemicals for the production of polyvinyl
chloride (PVC).
• Average depth of the these ponds are 4 meters.
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Dead_se
a_ecological_disaster_1960_-_2007.gif
Red Sea – Dead Sea Canal
• 1855 William Allen wanted to create a series
of canals to channel water from the
Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
New and Improved Peace Conduit
• Implication for:
– Freshwater
– Hydropower
– Sea Level
– Aquatic microorganisms
– Chemical Composition
– Precipitation of salts
• Where do things stand now… Pending review.
Works Cited
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Goetz, P.W. (ed.) The New Encyclopaedia Britannica (15th ed.). Vol. 3, p. 937. Chicago, 1986
Gavrieli Ittai, Amos Bein, and Ahraron Oren. 2003. The Expected Impact of the Peace Conduit Project (The Red Sea –
Dead Sea Pipeline) on The Dead Sea. Mitigation and Adaption Strategies for Global Change (2005) 10: 3-22. Springer.
Print.
Gavrieli Ittai, Lensky Nadav, Gazit-Yaari Naama, Oren Aharon. The Impact of the proposed “Peace Conduit” on the
Dead Sea. Evaluation of Current Knowledge on Dead Sea – Seawater Mixing. Report GSI/23/2002. The Ministry if
National Infrastructure – Geological Survey of Israel. 2002. Jerusalem, Israel. Web.
Gertman, I. & A. Hecht. 2002. The Dead Sea Hydrography from 1992 to 2000. Journal of Marine Systems 35 (2002)
169-181. Print.
Moti Tavassi, Sophia Barinova, and Hillel Glassman. Algal communities in the polluted lower Jordan River, Israel. Israel
Journal of Plant Sciences Vol. 56 2008 pp. 111–119.
Nissenbaum, Arie. The Dead Sea - an economic resource for 10000 years. Weizmann Institute of Science.
Hydrobiologia 261: 127-141, 1993. S. H. Hurlbert (ed,), Saline Lakes V. 0 1993 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in
Belgium.
http://ims.gov.il/IMS/CLIMATE/LongTermInfo
http://www.deadsea.co.il/index.php?page_id=1&lang_action=change_lang&to_lang=en&geo_action=done
http://www1.american.edu/TED/deadsea.htm
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTREDSEADEADSEA/Resources/ERM_Environmental_Scoping_Report_Dec2008.p
df
http://www.gsi.gov.il/Eng/_Uploads/79Peace_Cond.pdf
Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research Israel Marine Data Center (ISRAMAR). 2011.
<http://isramar.ocean.org.il/isramar2009/DeadSea/> Web.