THE DEAD SEA IS DRYING UP:

The Dead Sea is dying as its dark salty waters retreat (The Telegraph)
(Filed: 04/10/2003)

Human exploitation is forcing the surface level down by three feet each year, reports David Blair

The jagged cliffs of the Judaean desert mountains, where John the Baptist wandered and Jewish fighters made their last stand at Masada, once sloped directly into the Dead Sea.

Today, many of those cliffs descend into ugly mudflats covering much of the basin marking the lowest point on Earth. For the Dead Sea is in retreat as human intervention forces the water level downwards by more than three feet per year.

Over the last 50 years, the Dead Sea has shrunk by a third and its surface has fallen 88ft, from 1,280ft below sea level to 1,368ft. At this rate of decline, the salt waters between Israel and Jordan will disappear completely within the next century.

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