Why is the dead sea so full of salt? is there a reason for this?where is the red sea?

Question

is the black sea anywhere near the red sea and is there a reason for these two seas being named after these colours?

Answer 1

Hi :-:

Until the winter of 1978-1979, the Dead Sea was composed of two stratified layers of water that differed in temperature, density, age, and salinity. The topmost 35 metres (115 ft) or so of the Dead Sea had a salinity that ranged between 300 and 400 parts per thousand and a temperature that swung between 19 °C (66 °F) and 37 °C (98 °F). Underneath a zone of transition, the lowest level of the Dead Sea had waters of a consistent 22 °C (72 °F) temperature and complete saturation of sodium chloride (NaCl).[citations needed] Since the water near the bottom is saturated, the salt precipitates out of solution onto the sea floor.

Beginning in the 1960s water inflow to the Dead Sea from the Jordan River was reduced as a result of large-scale irrigation and generally low rainfall. By 1975 the upper water layer of the Dead Sea was actually saltier than the lower layer. The upper layer nevertheless remained suspended above the lower layer because its waters were warmer and thus less dense. When the upper layer finally cooled down so that its density was greater than the lower layer the waters of the Dead Sea mixed. For the first time in centuries the lake was a homogeneous body of water. Since then stratification has begun to redevelop.



A rough Dead Sea, with salt deposits on cliffs.The mineral content of the Dead Sea is significantly different from that of ocean water. The exact composition of the Dead Sea water varies with season, depth, temperature and so on. The concentration of ionic species (in g/kg) of Dead Sea surface water in the early 1980s was found to be: Cl− (181.4), Br− (4.2), SO42− (0.4), HCO3− (0.2), Ca2+ (14.1), Na+ (32.5), K+ (6.2) and Mg2+ (35.2). The total salinity was 276 g/kg.[8] These results show that w/w% composition of the salt, as anhydrous chlorides, was calcium chloride (CaCl2) 14.4%, potassium chloride (KCl) 4.4%, magnesium chloride (MgCl2) 50.8% and sodium chloride (common salt, NaCl) 30.4%. In comparison, the salt in the water of most oceans and seas is approximately 97% sodium chloride. The concentration of sulfate, SO42−, ions is very low, and the bromide ion, Br− concentration is the highest of all waters on Earth.

Comparison between the chemical composition of the Dead Sea to other lakes and oceans show that the salt concentration in the Dead Sea is 31.5% (the salinity fluctuates somewhat). The unusually high concentration of salt results in a similarly high density of up to 1.24 kg/L, depending on temperature and salinity. Anyone can easily float in the Dead Sea because of natural buoyancy. In this aspect, the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah, in the United States.

Other info:

The Dead Sea (Arabic: البَحْر المَيّت‎, al-Baḥrᵘ l-Mayyitᵘ, "Dead Sea";Hebrew: יָם הַ‏‏מֶ‏ּ‏לַ‏ח‎, Yām Ha-Melaḥ, "Sea of Salt") is a salt lake between Israel and the West Bank to the west, and Jordan to the east. It is 420 metres (1,378 ft) below sea level,and its shores are the lowest point on the surface of the Earth on dry land. The Dead Sea is 330 m (1,083 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world.

This salinity makes for a harsh environment where animals cannot flourish and boats cannot sail. The Dead Sea is 67 kilometres (42 mi) long and 18 kilometres (11 mi) wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers.

In Arabic the Dead Sea is calledal-Bahr al-Mayyit

(help·info) ("the Dead Sea"), or less commonly baḥrᵘ lūṭᵃ (بحر لوط, "the Sea of Lot"). Another historic name in Arabic was the "Sea of Zoʼar", after a nearby town. In Hebrew, the Dead Sea is Yām ha-Melaḥ (help·info), meaning "sea of salt," or Yām ha-Māvet (ים המוות, "sea of death"). In antiquity it was sometimes referred to as Yām ha-Mizraḥî (ים המזרחי, "the Eastern sea") or Yām ha-‘Ărāvâ (ים הערבה, "Sea of the Arabah"). The Greeks called it Lake Asphaltites (Attic Greek ἡ Θάλαττα ἀσφαλτῖτης, hē Thálatta asphaltĩtēs, "the Asphaltitesea.

One of the most unusual properties of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt. From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles of the black substance. After earthquakes, chunks as large as houses have been found.

The Dead Sea area has become a major center for health research and treatment for several reasons. The mineral content of the waters, the very low content of pollens and other allergens in the atmosphere, the reduced ultraviolet component of solar radiation, and the higher atmospheric pressure at this great depth each have specific health effects. For example, persons suffering reduced respiratory function from diseases such as cystic fibrosis seem to benefit from the increased atmospheric pressure.[9]

Sufferers of the skin disorder psoriasis also benefit from the ability to sunbathe for long periods in the area due to its position below sea level and subsequent result that many of the sun's harmful UV rays are reduced. Furthermore, Dead Sea salt has been found to be beneficial to psoriasis patients

Answer 2

My understanding of why the Dead Sea is so salty is due to it being located on an intensely mineral-rich area of land that is like no other. The Red Sea was referred to as such due to the red algae which proliferated in the water at certain times of the year.  The seas were named after colors probably because color was a less difficult concept to understand for geographical reference in the different languages of the various tribes that frequented the land.

Answer 3

in religious views of Muslims and Jews it was a curse sent from god over the people of "loot" who were a nation of bisexuals, where an angel hit the ground beneath them with the very far edge of his wing, therefore it is forbidden for both Muslims and Jews to swim there or be in its water,

some believe the salt was like a sign to remind the people to stay away, some say it was carried out with the huge amount of water which was like an after shock-wave of the first hit, and then it vapourised leaving the salt amounts on the rise..

excuse my spelling, I'm 14!

Answer 4

Dead Sea used to be a lot bigger and deeper and received water from other salt water sources.  As the connection to new water dried up the water level in the Dead Sea dropped due to evaporation.  The water evaporates but the salt does not so you end up with a high concentration of salt.

Answer 5

Wow, so many questions at once!

1. why is the dead sea so full of salt? - because of the minerals in the ground where it's located.

2. where is the red sea? - it's between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Look on Google Earth.

3. is the black sea anywhere near the red sea and is there a reason for these two seas being named after these colours?

The Black see is quite far from the Red Sea, there's Turkey, Israel and many other countries between them.

Not sure about the Red Sea, but the Black Sea was named so because it was considered inhospitable and difficult to navigate.

Answer 6

Hi.

Surely the simplest answer to the Dead Sea saltiness question is that it is really a lake which has no outlet (it is the lowest place in the region, lying considerably below sea level). Like all rivers, those running into the Dead Sea contain small amounts of dissolved minerals (salts), the exact nature of which depend on the rocks and soils the rivers are running over. As water is evaporated from the surface of the Dead Sea the salts are left behind, building up to high concentrations as time goes by.

ps. There is also a White Sea.