Previous Year Question

The Dead Sea is an extremely saline water body. According to NASA, its salinity is approximately 34%, whereas the average salinity of normal ocean water is about 3.5%. Thus, Dead Sea water is nearly ten times saltier than ordinary seawater.

The Dead Sea occupies an endorheic basin, meaning that it has no natural outlet carrying water to the ocean. It receives water mainly from the Jordan River, but evaporation is extremely high because of the hot and dry climate. Water evaporates while dissolved salts remain behind, resulting in exceptionally high salinity.

Because of its high salinity, the density of its water is also very high, allowing people to float more easily than in ordinary freshwater. Such highly saline conditions are also unsuitable for most common aquatic organisms.

An important geographical clarification is that despite the word “Sea” in its name, the Dead Sea is actually a hypersaline terminal lake, not a true sea.