The Dead Sea is dying as thousands of sinkholes emerge in Israel
A spectacular expanse of water in the desert of Israel, flanked by cliffs to east and west, the Dead Sea has lost a third of its surface area since 1960
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At 430 metres below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the planet, sitting at the bottom of the Great Rift Valley. For millennia the lake has drawn visitors to float in its unusually buoyant, mineral-rich waters, which some say have healing properties. However, the area is now punctured by craters. The blue water recedes about a metre (yard) every year, leaving behind a lunar landscape whitened by salt and perforated with gaping holes. AFP
The sinkholes can exceed 10 metres (33 feet) in depth and are a testament to the shrinking sea. At the Ein Gedi thermal baths, the roughly three kilometres (two miles) of rocky sand that now separate the spa from the shore are dotted with holes and crevices. Ittai Gavrieli of the Israel Geological Institute told AFP there are now thousands of sinkholes all around the shores of the Dead Sea, in Jordan, Israel and the occupied West Bank. AFP
So is the Dead Sea doomed to evaporate? Scientists say its decline is inevitable for at least the next 100 years. Sinkholes will keep spreading over the century. AFP
Crystalised minerals in the Israeli Kibbutz Ein Gedi area on the shores of the Dead Sea. Scientists predict that the Dead Sea will keep declining till it is one third of its original size and even saltier than it is today. AFP
Scientists say that the sinkholes reflect human policy that has literally decimated the flow of water into the Dead Sea. Both Israel and Jordan have diverted the waters of the River Jordan for agriculture and drinking water. Chemical companies have extracted minerals from the seawater. AFP
Gavrieli said the Israel Geological Institute is monitoring the formation of sinkholes from space but it is not an exact science. He said they are certainly "dangerous" but also "magnificent." AFP
Gidon Bromberg, Israeli director of the NGO EcoPeace, quoted that the sinkholes are "nature's revenge" for "the inappropriate actions of humankind". "We will not be able to bring back the Dead Sea to its former glory," he said. "But we are demanding that we stabilise it." AFP