‘Nature’s revenge’: Dead Sea surrounded by 3,000+ sinkholes growing at alarming rate
Hundreds of sinkholes are forming each year around the drying Dead Sea that could face being completely parched by 2050. Its basin shrinks by a meter per year due to severe water mismanagement.
“It’s nature's revenge,” Gidon Bromberg, the Israeli Director at EcoPeace Middle East, told ABC. EcoPeace unites environmental activists
“These sinkholes are a direct result of the inappropriate mismanagement of water resources in the region,” said Bromberg, who believes that the total number of sinkholes has grown to over 3,000. Just ten years ago roughly 1,000 sinkholes had been reported, according to Smithsonian magazine.
The Dead Sea, actually a lake, has existed in its present form, after splitting off from a larger water mass for the past 18,000 years. But since the 1950s Israel and Jordan have diverted the flow of the Jordan River, turning a once powerful flow into a trickle, full of sediment.
As a result, the Dead Sea is 800 million cubic meters short of water each year, and its level has fallen for 40 meters. As it recedes, it leaves behind salty deposits. While initially, these are firm, over the following years, the salt is dissolved, by rain, groundwater and river flows, creating a cavity underneath the ground.
These cavities can collapse any time, creating a deadly sinkholes. Several sinkholes can merge together, producing giant, gaping craters.
While no official statistics are kept about the deaths and injuries caused by them, there are hundreds of warning signs dotted around the edge of the water.
Last month Jordan and Israel signed a ground-breaking $900 million deal that will see a desalination plant built on the edge of the see, which will have water pumped into it via a canal from the Red Sea. Unfortunately, the costly project, approved by the World Bank is unlikely to significantly curb the deterioration, as it will only pump 100 million cubic meters of wastewater into the Dead Sea.
J Blake yesterday at 15:13
Gaetan A Cincire
No matter what site one visits, fear mongering is all over the place. So turn the computer off and gomore...
Or bury your head in the sand.
Marion Brown at 20:07 the day before yesterday
Marion Brown
I'm laughing. I've watched the progress of China for many, many years. Better a NWO under the Chinesemore...
Old Chinese proverb: "Fear he who has nothing to lose". That explains the position of too many Americans today.
Marion Brown at 20:05 the day before yesterday
Cynical175
Just wait and see.The dawn of a new episode and the Americans are scared to death of the new Chinesemore...
I'm laughing. I've watched the progress of China for many, many years. Better a NWO under the Chinese than under the Zionists
andy at 19:53 the day before yesterday
Margaret
"My dear little Andy". The article said "growing at an alarming rate". Natural sinkholes is not themore...
My sweet little Margaret, thank you for the insight :)
andy at 19:47 the day before yesterday
Georgggy Porgy DPorkChop
Hmmm. Well if you put it that way you got no news :opBut then, you brave geologist, could you explainmore...
If you read the article you will see it has been around for nearly 20,000 years.
andy at 19:45 the day before yesterday
Mickey Dee
Then the Kariba and the Aswan dams are 'nature'.
They are dams. The Dead Sea is a lake.
Kariba is built on an fault line (Zambezi rift), which the river Zambezi follows and has been subsequently dammed, as is the Aswan (strike slip Kalabsha fault). So yes their water course is natural and have been influenced by tectonics, however their volume is a result of man-made damming.
Kariba is built on an fault line (Zambezi rift), which the river Zambezi follows and has been subsequently dammed, as is the Aswan (strike slip Kalabsha fault). So yes their water course is natural and have been influenced by tectonics, however their volume is a result of man-made damming.
Dean Corso at 11:51 the day before yesterday
Cynical175
Just wait and see.The dawn of a new episode and the Americans are scared to death of the new Chinesemore...
Not really, but good try. Youve used too much correlation. There is more and better evidence. But keep it up, one day you too wont be a sheep.
Margaret at 10:08 the day before yesterday
Steve Scully
I don't believe there are any references to the Dead Sea, all I recall are to the Sea of Galileemore...
Google search: Is there a reference to the Dead Sea in the Quran?
everyday you learn something new.
everyday you learn something new.
Cynical175 at 09:49 the day before yesterday
Marion Brown
Americans don't fear anything
Just wait and see.
The dawn of a new episode and the Americans are scared to death of the new Chinese AIIB initiative. The rats are leaving the sinking American ship surprisingly England was the first to jump and Germany followed.
The beginning of the end of the American dollar homogeny.
The dawn of a new episode and the Americans are scared to death of the new Chinese AIIB initiative. The rats are leaving the sinking American ship surprisingly England was the first to jump and Germany followed.
The beginning of the end of the American dollar homogeny.
Cynical175 at 09:46 the day before yesterday
Vvp Vvp
The Americans fear Moldova joining the Euarasian Union FFS never mind the actual big issues
The dawn of a new episode and the Americans are scared to death of the new Chinese AIIB initiative. The rats are leaving the sinking American ship surprisingly England was the first to jump and Germany followed.
The beginning of the end of the American dollar homogeny.
The beginning of the end of the American dollar homogeny.
Fast Amir at 08:32 the day before yesterday
Jeanie Anderson
It's not just Israel and Jordan. This kind of thing is happening in many part of the world, including themore...
Sorry have to disagree....
Whilst people in Africa...etc don't have drinking water...rsholes in the western world / Parts of Middles Eas waste so much water bathing, cleaning our cars, flushing loos...etc...There is more tha enough food, water and resources...its the policy to keep the world a it is...and it is a sick policy.
Whilst people in Africa...etc don't have drinking water...rsholes in the western world / Parts of Middles Eas waste so much water bathing, cleaning our cars, flushing loos...etc...There is more tha enough food, water and resources...its the policy to keep the world a it is...and it is a sick policy.
Vvp Vvp at 07:42 the day before yesterday
Marion Brown
Americans don't fear anything
The Americans fear Moldova joining the Euarasian Union FFS never mind the actual big issues
Steve Scully at 04:32 the day before yesterday
Margaret
In the Quran the Sea of Glailee dries up.
I don't believe there are any references to the Dead Sea, all I recall are to the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias). If there are any references to the Dead Sea I'd love to see them!
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