Everybody knows about how amazing it is to float in the Dead Sea and how powerful its mud is as an all-natural cosmetic, but there are many fun facts about the Dead Sea that few people know. For starters, there are many different names for the Dead Sea. The Devil’s Sea was its name in the age of the Crusades, while Lake Asphaltites was its name to the Greeks. Another fact many people are unaware of is that the sea does not have any outlets, so the water just evaporates, with large mineral and salt formations left in its place. The salt and mineral content makes the sea valuable for making chemical products, including potash, which is an ingredient that is used to make fertilizer.
An issue has come up because the water from the Dead Sea comes from the Jordan River, but the river has been diverted so much for drinking and irrigation that very little of the water that used to go to the sea currently makes it there. Over the past 50 years, there has been a reduction in the sea’s size by a third. This unfortunate development is just one of the many dramas the sea has seen throughout history. One incident told in Genesis is that Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt, and you can visit that very pillar of salt today, or at least that is what tour guides’ claim.
Leave a Reply