THE DEAD SEA

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 13092, 13 February 1937, Page 12

THE DEAD SEA

COMES TO LIFE AGAIN

The Dead Soa, the strangest body of water in the world, is slowly coming to life again. Lying 1-300 feet below the level of tho Mediterranean, receiving an inflow of 6.000,000 tons of water daily from the River Jordan without- an outlet. the sea has puzzled archaeologists and geologists for centimes. To-day, where once Sodom and Gomorrah stood, where David''took refuge, where Herod and Marianne fled when the Part-fans captured Jerusalem in -12 8.0., modern science is ■ taking out potash and hromir.e, and the '.Dead Sen. is alive with -activity. Once barren awl thought useless, tho sea’s shoreline is now ringing with the sound of hammers as a new potash works, until a, 39,000 ton capacity annually, has brought on abuilding boom. Resorts put up by British capital ■n and around tho Dead Sea, ore bringing thousands 'of visitors to the soa ouch winter, and homes and work buildings are springing up. Great Britain is closely watching the potash processes, for the Dead Soa is a source of potash and bromine for various uses. By contrast to ordinary ocean water, which contains from four to six per cent, salts, the Dead Sea contains ?o per cent. No animal life is able to live in its waters, and very little vegetable life.

The evaporation from the sea. its only outlet from the heavy inflow, causes strange looking blue and white clouds to float overhead, giving it a fantastic sheen from a distance.