Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

The lake's surface is 430.5 meters (1,412 ft.) below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth. It is 304 m (997 ft.) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34.2% (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water– 9.6 times as salty as the ocean – and has a density of 1.24 kg/liter, which makes swimming similar to floating. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea's main, northern basin is 50 kilometers (31 mi) long and 15 kilometers (9 mi) wide at its widest point.