The Dead Sea, commonly described by other names, is a salt lake that is surrounded by Israel and the West Financial institution to the west and Jordan to the east. It is located in the Jordan Break Valley, and also the Jordan River is its principal tributary. The margins of the lake are the most affordable land-based altitude in the world since they are 430.5 metres (1,412 feet) below water level. It is the deepest hypersaline lake in the world at 304 m (997 ft). It is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, 9.6 times as salty as the ocean, with a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34.2% (in 2011). It likewise has a thickness of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming comparable to drifting.
Its name comes from the severe environment produced by this salinity, which is why neither plants nor pets can thrive there. The significant, north basin of the Dead Sea measures 50 kilometres (31 miles) in size as well as 15 kilometres (9 miles) in width at its widest factor. For hundreds of years, individuals have actually travelled to the Dead Sea from throughout the Mediterranean Basin.
It provided a wide range of products, varying from potash for fertilisers to asphalt for Egyptian mummification, and it was just one of the initial health spa worldwide (for Herod the Great). Today, the sea's Israeli, Jordanian, and also West Bank coasts are gone to by visitors. Along the coast of the West Financial Institution, the Palestinian tourism market has actually come across barriers to growth.
The Dead Sea's surface dimension is rapidly diminishing; it was 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) in 1930 and also is currently 605 km2 (234 sq mi). Numerous canal as well as pipe projects have actually been developed to minimize the Dead Sea's economic crisis, which has actually started to trigger problems [unclear] The Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Transportation Pipeline Job is one of these suggestions; it would provide water to adjoining nations and also transportation brine to the Dead Sea to help keep its water level.

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