The Dead Sea

Location/Formation

• Located between Jordan, The West Bank, and Israel.

• Just outside of the traditional tropics, between 30.5 and 31.5 degrees north latitude

• The Dead Sea Transform• The DST is located between the African and

Arabian tectonic plates.

Weather and Climate

• Hot and dry climate• Average rainfall: 47 mm• Average precipitation days: 15• Average summer temperature: 27 – 40 oC• Average winter temperature: 11 – 21 oC• Average yearly temperature: 22 – 30 oC

Sources of InflowInflow:• Ground water• Rain water• Surface water

– Jordan River,

– Zerqa, – Mujib, – Karak, – Hasa, – Araba, – Harod, – Quilt,– Malih,– Mishash,– Arugot,

Morphometric Data

Salinity

• 33.7% salinity• 8.6 times saltier than the oceans• There is roughly 300 grams of salt per

kilogram of seawater• There are 35 different types of minerals that

make up the salts in the lake

Chemical Composition (in G l -1):• Mg = 44• Ca = 17.2• Na = 40.1• K = 7.7• Cl = 224.9• Br = 5.3• SO4 = 0.45• HCO3 = 0.1• Total Dissolved Salts

= 339.6• Density = 1.232

Layered in the Lake

More Stratification

Life in and around the Dead SeaRecorded to have been seen

near the Dead Sea Lake:

• Camels• Ibex• Hares• Hyraxes• Jackals• Foxes• Leopards• Birds

• 152 species of plankton and periphyton were identified in the Jordan River (Tavassi 2008).

• Cyanoprokaryota– Bacillariophyceae– Chlorophyta– Chrysophyta– Cryptophyta– Dinophyta– Euglenophyta– Rhodophyta– Xanthophyta

Evaporation Ponds• The evaporation ponds in the southern portion of the dead sea

are responsible for the production of Sodium Chloride and Potassium salts. In recent years there has been an increase in the demand of these chemicals for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

• Average depth of the these ponds are 4 meters. • http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Dead_se

a_ecological_disaster_1960_-_2007.gif

Red Sea – Dead Sea Canal

• 1855 William Allen wanted to create a series of canals to channel water from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

New and Improved Peace Conduit

• Implication for:– Freshwater– Hydropower– Sea Level– Aquatic microorganisms– Chemical Composition– Precipitation of salts

• Where do things stand now… Pending review.

Works Cited• Goetz, P.W. (ed.) The New Encyclopaedia Britannica (15th ed.). Vol. 3, p. 937. Chicago, 1986• Gavrieli Ittai, Amos Bein, and Ahraron Oren. 2003. The Expected Impact of the Peace Conduit Project (The Red Sea –

Dead Sea Pipeline) on The Dead Sea. Mitigation and Adaption Strategies for Global Change (2005) 10: 3-22. Springer. Print.

• Gavrieli Ittai, Lensky Nadav, Gazit-Yaari Naama, Oren Aharon. The Impact of the proposed “Peace Conduit” on the Dead Sea. Evaluation of Current Knowledge on Dead Sea – Seawater Mixing. Report GSI/23/2002. The Ministry if National Infrastructure – Geological Survey of Israel. 2002. Jerusalem, Israel. Web.

• Gertman, I. & A. Hecht. 2002. The Dead Sea Hydrography from 1992 to 2000. Journal of Marine Systems 35 (2002) 169-181. Print.

• Moti Tavassi, Sophia Barinova, and Hillel Glassman. Algal communities in the polluted lower Jordan River, Israel. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences Vol. 56 2008 pp. 111–119.

• Nissenbaum, Arie. The Dead Sea - an economic resource for 10000 years. Weizmann Institute of Science. Hydrobiologia 261: 127-141, 1993. S. H. Hurlbert (ed,), Saline Lakes V. 0 1993 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in Belgium.

• http://ims.gov.il/IMS/CLIMATE/LongTermInfo• http://www.deadsea.co.il/index.php?page_id=1&lang_action=change_lang&to_lang=en&geo_action=done• http://www1.american.edu/TED/deadsea.htm• http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTREDSEADEADSEA/Resources/

ERM_Environmental_Scoping_Report_Dec2008.pdf• http://www.gsi.gov.il/Eng/_Uploads/79Peace_Cond.pdf• Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research Israel Marine Data Center (ISRAMAR). 2011.

<http://isramar.ocean.org.il/isramar2009/DeadSea/> Web.