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The Dead Sea (Arabic: اَلْبَحْر الْمَيِّت, romanized: al-Baḥr al-Mayyit; or اَلْبَحْر الْمَيْت, al-Baḥr al-Mayt; Hebrew: יַם הַמֶּלַח, romanized: Yam hamMelaḥ), also known by other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Today, tourists visit the sea on its Israeli, Jordanian and West Bank coastlines. The Dead Sea is receding at a swift rate; its surface area today is 605 km2 (234 sq mi), having been 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) in 1930. Multiple canal and pipeline proposals, such as the scrapped Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, have been made to reduce its recession.

The name "Dead Sea" occasionally appears in Hebrew literature as Yām HamMāvet (ים המוות), 'Sea of Death'. Other Hebrew names for the lake also mentioned in the Bible are the Sea of Arabah (Hebrew: ים הערבה, romanized: Yām Ha'Ărāvâ) and the Eastern Sea (Hebrew: היםהקדמוני, romanized: HaYām HaQadmōnî). In the Talmud, it is called 'Sea of Salt' or 'Sea of Sodom'.

The Dead Sea lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform (DST).

The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself.

The older hypothesis is that the Dead Sea lies in a true rift zone, an extension of the Red Sea Rift, or even of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa. A more recent hypothesis is that the Dead Sea basin is a consequence of a "step-over" discontinuity along the Dead Sea Transform, creating an extension of the crust with consequent subsidence.

During the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene, what is now the valley of the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and the northern Wadi Arabah was repeatedly inundated by waters from the Mediterranean Sea.

2.5 million years ago), the eustatic sea level was at 50–100 metres above the current sea level, thus flooding the northern valleys connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Jordan Rift Valley, which led to the creation of a crooked-shaped lagoon.

Barometric pressures at the Dead Sea were measured between 1061 and 1065 hPa and clinically compared with health effects at higher altitude. (This barometric measure is about 5% higher than sea level standard atmospheric pressure of 1013.25 hPa, which is the global ocean mean or ATM.) The Dead Sea affects temperatures nearby because of the moderating effect a large body of water has on climate.

The world's lowest roads, Highway 90, run along the Israeli and West Bank shores of the Dead Sea, along with Highway 65 on the Jordanian side, at 393 m (1,289 ft) below sea level.

Israeli companies generate around US$3 billion annually from the sale of Dead Sea minerals (primarily potash and bromine), and from other products that are derived from Dead Sea Minerals.

Both companies, Dead Sea Works Ltd. and Arab Potash, use extensive salt evaporation pans that have essentially diked the entire southern end of the Dead Sea for the purpose of producing carnallite, potassium magnesium chloride, which is then processed further to produce potassium chloride.

Since 1930, when its surface was 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) and its level was 390 m (1,280 ft) below sea level, the Dead Sea has been monitored continuously.

This is a plan to convey seawater from the Red Sea near Aqaba to the Dead Sea. According to Jordan's minister for water, General Maysoun Zu'bi, this project could be considered as the first phase of the Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance. In December 2013, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement for laying a water pipeline to link the Red Sea with the Dead Sea.

The World Bank, 2013, "The Red Sea – Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study Program", and source of basic data on the Dead Sea.

Quick Facts

• The World Bank, 2013, "The Red Sea – Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study Program", and source of basic data on the Dead Sea.
• Multiple canal and pipeline proposals, such as the scrapped Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, have been made to reduce its recession.
• The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself.
• The Dead Sea lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform (DST).
• The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Dead Sea". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.