Dead sea

This remarkable inland lake lies in the deepest part of the depression of the earth's surface which stretches from the Gulf of Akabah north- wards into the Jordan Valley (see Arabah). The name ' Dead Sea ' is not found in the Bible, and appears first to have been used in Gr. {B(i\a<r<ra riKpd) by Pausanias and Galen, and in Lat. by Justin. In OT it is known as the Salt Sea (Gn \i', Dt 3") and as the Sea of the Arabah (Jos 3").

Both these names are appropriate and expressive of its physical conditions. With reference to its geograpu. situa- tion, it is called the East Sea (Ezk 47", Jl 2*). The name 'Asphaltites' given to it by Josephus {Ant. I. ii. ) is derived from the deposits of bitumen which are found in some of the valleys entering the W. shore ; and, lastly, the name Dead Sea (Mare mortuum) is used to indicate the absence of animal life in its waters.

This is owing, not so much to the high salinity of the waters, as to the large pro- portion of bromide of magnesium which they con- tain. In the streams, often of a liigli temperature, which enter the lake to the S. of the promontory of El-Lls&n, some living forms are exceedingly abundant, especially '.hose of small fishes of the genua Cijprinodon.

The name ' Bahr Lflt,' by which the Dead Sea is known amongst the Arabs, is a remarkable instance of the persistence of ira<litionary names amongst these E.

tribes, if, as is believed by not a few, it comes down to us through a period of nearly 4000 years, and has been preserved by the descendants of the patriarch Lot, who took possession of the tcrritorj' of Moab and Ammon on the borders of tlio Arabian desert overlooking the Dead Sea l)asin, and who naturally associated this inland lake with the name of their progenitor who hfui lived on its shores {(Jn 13"). Physical Features. — The Dead Sea lies nearly N.-S.

along a line corre^sponding to tliat of the Jordan Valley ; its length is 47 miles, and its greatest breaflth about 10 inile.s. It receives the waters of the Jordan from the N. ; those of El- Hessi, El-Jeib, and El-Fikreh from the S. j those of the Kerak, Amon (Mojib), Zerka Ma'in from the E., and the Kidron (En-Nar) and several lessei streams from the W.

; and as the Dea»i Sea, like all salt lakes, has no outlet, the consequence is that the waters which enter it pass off in the form of vapour into the atmosphere.

The quantity of water poured into the Dead Sea basin must be very great, especially during the months of April and fliay, when the Jordan is swollen by the melting of the snow in the Lebanon range ; out such is the dryness of the air and the heat of the sun's rays in the Ghor that this increased supply fails per- manently to raise the level of the surface, which seems only to rLse and fall within the limits of 10 to 15 ft., between the months of October and Maj-, as estimated by Dr.

Robinson from the position of the driftwood along the shote. El-Lisdn. — The Dead Sea is di\-ided Into two unequal portions by a remarkable promontory known as ' El-Lisln (the tongue), which projects outwards from the E. shore for a distance of half the breadth of the lake. This proniontorj- seems to be referred to in the passage describing the boundary of the lot of the tribe of Judah (Jos 15", marg. 'tongue'). El, Lis.

ln is composed, according to Lartet, of white calcareous marl with beds of salt and gypsum. It breaks off in a dill facing the W., 300 ft. high and 9 miles lon|j, terminating northwards at Point Costigan, and is connected \vith the Moabite coast by a narrow neck of marshy land.

The terraced form, as well as the composition, of EI-LisAn show that it was once part of the bed of the lake when its waters rose several hundred feet higher than at present ; and it corre sponds in character and composition to the terraced ndge of Khashm Usdura now to be described. Kha.ihm Usdum (or Salt-mountain). — This re- markable ridge follows the W. shore of the lake from Umiti Zoglial southwards to the banks of Wady el, Fikreh at the S. margin of the Gh5r, a distance of 7 miles.

Its upper surface is about 600 ft. above the lake, and seen from a distance appears flat ; but it is deeply furrowed and seamed by streamlets, which have penetrated into the mass below. The upper part of Khashm Usdum is formed of strata of white saliferous and gj'pseous marl, the lower of solid salt-rock ; ami these materials are laid open to view in the nearly vertical cliff along which the ridge breaks off on the E. side. There can be no doubt that this terrace, like that of El-Li.

sftn, and others to be found at intervals on both sides of the lake, were parts of the bed of the lake itself when its waters stood at a much higher level than at present. It is separated from the base of the limestone tableland by a valley of broken ground, strewn with blocks of rock, about half a mile in width, and eroded by torrential action. The Ascent of AhrabbimC scar^nons'). — From the S.

shore of the lake an extensive tract, composed partly of slitiie, partly of woods and postures, ext^Tids as far as the semicircular terrace which bounds the Ghor in that direction. This marsh is liable to floods, and its surface is strewn with trunks of trees brought down by the torrents. The terrace by which it is boundetl is 500 ft. high, and is foriiied of in.irls overlaid by liods of sand, gravel, and loam, which extend southw.irds into the Arabah.

They are deposits formeil over the old bed of the lalie when its waters were 5iKMi00 ft. above their present level. The terrace seems X/e 676 DEAD SEA DEAD SEA ajiower to the ' Ascent of Akrabbim ' referred to in Jos 15* in connexion with the boundary of Judah. Robinson regards the edge of the terrace as marking the limits of the Ghor and the Arabah respectively : a view in which the present writer concurs. Level of the Surface. — The Dead Sea was sounded in 1848 by Lieut.

Lynch, who found that it de- scended to a depth of 1278 ft. at a point about 5 miles N. of Costigan. It is now known that the surface itself descends to a greater depth below that of the ocean than any sheet of water on the globe. Thb fact remained unrecognized until 1836-7, when H. von Schubert and Prof. Roth visited Palestine, and made barometric observations in the Jordanic basin. These were followed and confirmed by CoL Wilson (now Gen. Sir C. W.

Wilson) and the officers of the Ordnance Survey of Palestine by actual levelling from the shore of the Mediterranean to that of the Dead Sea itself, and have established the fact that the surface of the latter falls to a depth of 1292 ft. below that of the former.

Nor is it surprising that this result was not detected before the barometer and the level were brought to bear on its determination ; for there is nothing in the atmosphere around the lake which suggests to the traveller, by his sensations alone, that lie sustains a more than ordinary atmospheric pressure ; and the two seas being shut off from each other by a high table-land 50 mUes across, comparison of levels by means of the eye is impossible.

With the increase of barometric pressure there is a corresponding increase of temperature. Hence, while in winter snow frequently lies on the plateaux of Jud«a and of Moab, it is unknown on the shores of the Dead Sea ; and the Arab tribes go down to the Ghor \vith their flocks of sheep and goats, and camp over the plain during the winter months.

Thus when, in December 1893, the writer found himself standing on the edge of the terrace overlooking the Ghor, he beheld at his feet a wide plain stretching away northwards towards the margin of the Dead Sea, and to a large extent green with vegetation and thickets of small trees. To the rio:ht in an open space were seen several large Beda^^^n camps, from which the shouts of wild men, the barking of dogs, and the bellowing of camels ascended.

Numerous flocks of black goats and white sheep were being tended by women in long blue cloaks ; and on the party of travellers being obsen'ed, groups of merry children came trippinc; up towards the path accom- panied by a few of the elders, and, ranging tliera- selves in a line, courteously returned salutations. Here the Arabs remain enjoyiu" the warmth of the plain lUl the increasing heat of the summer's sun calls them away to their high pasture grounds on the table-land of Edom and Moab.

At a short distance farther towards the shore of the lake is the village of Es-Safieh, inhabited by a tribe of fellahin called the Ghawameh, who by means of irrigation from the Wady el-Hessi cultivate with success fields of wheat, maize, dhurah, indijjo, and cotton, while they rear herds of camels and flocks of sheep and goats. On the produce of these fields the Arabs largely depend for their supplies of food and raiment, which they obtain by a kind of rude, often compulsory, barter.

BounJarUs of the Ghor. — The Dead Sea basin *nd its ancient deposits are bounded along the E. by the high plateau of Moab, and on the W. by the nearly equally high table-land of Judaea. The fllain of El-Ammaya in Moab reaches a level of 3100 ft. above the Mediterranean, and, con- sequently, of about 4400 ft. above the Dead Sea.

The slopes of the escarpment along which the plateau urcaks off are sometimes terraced, some- times precipitous, and are eroded by numerous streams with thermal springs, of which that of the Zerka Main (or Callirboe) is the most celebrated. The W. slopes of the Ghor are equally seamed by river courses which cut deep into the limestone strata, and have their sources in springs near the summit of the table-land.

The cliffs of K&s Mersed, Engedi, and Masada,* the latter crowned by th« ruined fortress, are prominent features of the W. shore; while the walled city of Kerak, the capital of Moab, crowns the heights on the E side. Geology. — Investigations by geologists in recent times have dispelled some of the old ideas regarding the origin of this mysterious inland lake.

It is now known not to be the crater of a volcano, and it is almost equally certain that Sodom and Gomorrah were not overwhelmed in its waters. These re- searches have also resulted in showing that the area of the Dead Sea waters is not very different from what it was in the days of Abraham and Lot.

It is now known, through the observations of Tristram, Lartet, Hull, and others, that the Dead Sea occupies a part of the trough, or depression in the crust, produced by subsidence along the line of a 'fault' or system of 'faults' (fractures accom- panied by displacement of the strata) wliich has been traced from the G. of Akabah along the line of the Jordan-Arabah Valley to the base of Hermon (see Arabah).

This fracture was produced owing to the terrestrial movements which resulted in the whole region being elevated out of the sea after the close of the Eocene period. In con- sequence of this faulting and displacement, the formations on the opposite sides of the Ghor do not correspond with each other; those on the E., or Moabite, side being more ancient than those on the W. side at similar levels. Thus, while the whole W.

side of the Ghor is formed of Cretaceous limestones, the flanks of the Moabite escarpment are composed of very ancient volcanic rocks at the base ; overlain successively by Car- boniferous and older Cretaceous beds, ana only surmounted at a level of about 3000-4000 ft. above the lake by the Cretaceous limestones which come down to the water's edge along the W. shore.

The fundamental rocks laid open on the flanks of Jebel Shomar, a massive and precipitous mountain which rises behind Es-Safieh, and runs along the E. side of the Ghor for several miles, are composed of great beds of volcanic materials (agglomerates, tuffs, and sheets of porphyry, pene- trated by numerous dj'kes).

They have a slight dip northwards, and are overlain by red and purple sandstones and conglomerates of C arboniferous age ('Desert sandstone'), then by Carboniferous lime- stone formint' the terrace of Lebrusch, and this by the red and variegated sandstones of Lower Cretaceous age ('Nubian sandstone') which form the greater part of the mountain flanks, and are ultimately overlain by the Cretaceous limestones composing the crest of the Moabite and Edomite escarpment.

Such is the general geological structure as far as regards the more ancient formations. The form and features of the Ghor were considerably modified by rain and river action in Pliocene and Pleistocene times. At the latter stage, corresponding to the close of the Glacial epoch, the waters of the Jordanic Valley appear to have risen to such a degree as to have formed a lake whose area included those of Merom, Galilee, and the Dead Sea, and whose S.

margin extended into the Arabah as far as the 'Ain Abu Werideli ; thus producing a lake which had a length from N. to S. of 200 miles, and whose surface rose to the level of the Mediter- The fortress of MasAdft wafl the last refuge of the band of Zea'ota of tlie Jews who defended themselves against flilva, tha Roman general (a.d. 71), and at last destroyod theniselrea to escape capture (Jos. War, Vll. viii. ix.X % DEAFXESS DEBIR 5/7 ranean.

Tlie evidence for thus conclusion is to be found in the occurrence of terraces of lacustrine materials at intervals dowTi the Arabah from 'Ain Abu Werideh, a locality nearly 40 miles S. of the marj,'in of the Glior. These terraces contain numerous semi-fossil shells of the genera Melania and Melimopsis.'

It is easy to understand that during the Glacial epoch the large rainfall and the melting of the snows of the Lebanon, accompanied by a clunate less tropical than that which now prevails, may have added enormously to the supplies of water poured into the Jordanic basin, thus rais- ing the surface to the level indicated.

With the subsequent diminishing rainfall, and the recur- rence of sub-tropical conditions of climate, evapora- tion would <7radually gain upon precipitation ; and the surface of the waters, contracting stage by stage, would ultimately fall to their present limits, where evaporation anif supply have nearly balanced each other.

It was during such successive stages of diminution in volume, and lowering of the surface, that the terraces of lacustrine materials were formed, and converted into land surfaces ; these commence at their highest limit with those of Abu Werideh, and are succeeded by others at lower and lower levels till the present margin of the Dead Sea shore is reached.

The salinification of the waters necessarily accompanied this process ; because the salts dLssolved in tiie waters remained behind durin" the process of evaporation, and consequently tended to augment till saturation was reached. The Dead Sea waters, therefore, resemble those of all closed lakes which are more or less saline owing to similar catises.t LiTBRATUR«, — Conder, Tent Work, 1880; Hull, 'Arabia Petrsa >n<I I'aleatlno.' In tftm.

PEF, lS8a ; Lartet, Voyagt tfExplorn- tUm (It la MtT Mortt, 1880 ; Lyni-h, Report of U.S. Exjmlilwn to tki Jitrdan and Dead Se-i, 1852 ; Robinsnn, HR, lS(i6 ; Di- Saulcy, Voyagt dnns la Syrit, 1853; Schubert, Reiie in den iforgcnlund, 1837; Tristram, /yind V Isratl, 2nd ed. 1872. Ixind of Mood, 1878, ' Fauna and Flora of Palestine," in Hem. PEF, 1S'<4 ; O. A. Smith, i/u<. Geo;;. 499 fl. E. HuLL.