February 27, 2009

Dead Sea

Dead Sea 
















 The Dead sea, one of the most spectacular natural and spiritual landscape is a salt lake between Israel and Jordan. It is almost six times as salty as ocean and hence nothing lives in it. The Dead Sea is completely landlocked and it gets saltier with increasing depth. Down to about 40 meters, the seawater comprises about 300 grams of salt per kilogram of seawater. That is about 8.6 times saltier than ocean. This salinity makes for a harsh environment where animals cannot survive. Fish accidentally swimming into the sea are killed instantly, their bodies are quickly coated with a preserving layer of salt crystals and are tossed onto shore by wind and waves. As well as there is no seaweed or plants of any kind in and around the water.
The shores of the sea is covered with white crystal of salts. The salts found in the Dead Sea are mineral salts, just like you find in the oceans of the world, only in extreme concentrations. There are more than 35 different types of mineral that are essential for the health and care of the body skin including Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, Bromine, Sulfur, and Iodine. They are well known for relieving pains and sufferings caused by arthritis, rheumatism, psoriasis, eczema, headache and foot-ache, while nourishing and softening the skin. Because of the extremely high concentration of dissolved mineral salts in the water its density is more than that of plain fresh water. And human bodies are more buoyant in dead sea (which actually makes very tough to swim), so you bob like a cork.
It is 422 meters below the sea level and its shores are the lowest point on the surface of the earth. Scientist figure that the Dead Sea lowers by as much as 13 inches per year.