The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is a unique hypersaline lake. Situated in a pull-apart basin along an active plate boundary, at 437 meters below sea and continuously decreasing, it is the lowest place on Earth. The lake is an exemplar of geomorphological and limnological development serving as a natural laboratory for understanding sedimentological, geochemical, tectonic, seismological, and climatic history in an important region for human cultural development (Ben-Avraham et al., 1997; Enzel et al., 2006). The Dead Sea brine originates from an ingression of the Mediterranean flooding the basin. Climate change induced shifts in the water volume and composition, leading to three successive ’amplifier lakes’, the current Dead Sea succeeding Lakes Amora (740-70 ka) and Lisan (70-14 ka). Sediments deposited from these lakes provide an excellent paleoclimatic record (Stein and Goldstein, 2020). A negative water balance during dry periods drives the evolution of the lake and its surroundings. Receding shorelines continuously rearrange the beach, channels, and regional hydrology, causing extensive sinkhole activity. Increasing brine density and saturation following evaporation also cause changes in lake stratification and mineral deposition. For several millennia, the lake’s beautiful settings and unique properties captivated travelers’ minds. The lake’s distinctive geologic history and characteristics are the basis for ongoing research.