Dead Sea shrinks rapidly

What’s going on there? Strange craters suddenly appear and dry up the lake. The Dead Sea is shrinking rapidly. It’s already lost a third of its surface area since the 1960s. Every year, its waters recede by about a meter. They leave behind a land bleached by salt and full of huge holes.

The Dead Sea shrinks rapidly and strange craters appear in it.
The Dead Sea shrinks rapidly and strange craters appear in this.

Dolines multiplied

“We’ll be lucky if there’s a trickle of water left to soak our feet in,” comments a neighbor. “There won’t be anything but dolines anymore.” Sinkholes are craters that can form in a fraction of a second. They are more than ten metres deep, and have multiplied in the last twenty years.

As the salt water recedes, it leaves behind underground salt plates. When it rains, the fresh water infiltrates the water and dissolves these plates. The earth above it sinks and forms sinkholes.

In Ein Gedi, three kilometers inside the earth are dotted with holes and crevices. To the north, a tourist resort has turned into a ghost town. The roadway is blown up and the street lamps are in the dirt. Ittai Gavrieli is a researcher at the Geological Survey of Israel. He says there are thousands of sinkholes on both sides of the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea has already lost a third of its territory in recent years.
The Dead Sea has already lost a third of its territory in recent years.

Inevitable end

Today, the Dead Sea receives only 10% of the flow it once did. In addition, global warming is increasing the evaporation of its waters. The region recorded a national heat record in July, with 49.9°C in Sodom.

The Dead Sea is shrinking rapidly and its decline is inevitable. For the next hundred years, sinkholes will continue to appear.

In June, Jordan scrapped the idea of building a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. They opted to build a desalination plant to increase their drinking water supply.

“The Dead Sea has a deficit of one billion cubic meters a year. The canal would have provided 200 million cubic meters,” the specialists said.

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