Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Very Dead

The Dead Sea is located on the East side of Israel, South of Lebanon and North of Egypt. It divides Israel and Jordan. I had to look this up on the map, in case you were wondering how I know these details.

I heard of the Dead Sea for many years and always wondered the origins of its name. The 'dead' implies nothing lives in it. Perhaps no fish but some plants? The reason for this is because of high concentration of salt in the water. This is due to heat in the area. The water evaporates, leaving salt behind. So much salt that salt-bergs form on the surface of the Dead Sea. These are just like ice-bergs, but made from salt, not ice.

The buoyancy is so high that people have no problems floating on the surface. And if they ever want to dive under the surface of the Dead Sea, they need to put weights on their bodies - to be heavier.

It must be fascinating to be able to float freely in the Dead Sea. But perhaps it would be more fascinating to see large pieces of salt floating on the surface of the sea.

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