Editing Dead Sea (section)

==Geology==
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2020|find=Dead Sea geology}}
[[File:Dead Sea, Jordanian Shore.jpg|thumb|The Jordanian shore of the Dead Sea, showing salt deposits left behind by falling water levels]]

===Formation theories===
There are two contending hypotheses about the origin of the low elevation of the Dead Sea. The older hypothesis is that the Dead Sea lies in a true rift zone, an extension of the [[Red Sea Rift]], or even of the [[Great Rift Valley]] of [[eastern Africa]]. A more recent hypothesis is that the Dead Sea basin is a consequence of a "step-over" discontinuity along the Dead Sea Transform, creating an extension of the crust with consequent subsidence.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2007TC002119| title= Pull-apart basin formation and development in narrow transform zones with application to the Dead Sea Basin |doi= 10.1029/2007TC002119 | date =2008 | journal = Tectonics | volume = 27 | pages= 620-637 | issue =6 |last1 =  Smit | first1 = J. |last2 =  Brun | first2 =  J.-P. |last3 =  Cloetingh | first3 = S.|last4 =  Ben-Avraham | first4 =  Z.}}</ref>

===Sedom Lagoon===
During the late [[Pliocene]]-early [[Pleistocene]], what is now the valley of the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and the northern Wadi [[Arabah]] was repeatedly inundated by waters from the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref name="Stein">{{cite web |author=Mordechai Stein |title=The limnological history of late Pleistocene – Holocene water bodies in the Dead Sea basin |url=http://www.gsi.gov.il/_Uploads/4739SteinF.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513022228/http://www.gsi.gov.il/_Uploads/4739SteinF.pdf |archive-date=2013-05-13}}{{self-published inline|date=February 2021}} (Adjunct Professor at HUJI and senior researcher (emeritus as of 2024) of the [[Geological Survey of Israel]], Geochemistry and Ecological Geology Division.)</ref> The waters formed in a narrow, crooked bay that is called by geologists the Sedom Lagoon, which was connected to the sea through what is now the [[Jezreel Valley]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249853291_Climatic_changes_during_the_Pliocene_as_observed_from_climate-sensitive_rocks_and_clay_minerals_of_the_Sedom_formation_the_Dead_Sea_Basin/download?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6Il9kaXJlY3QiLCJwYWdlIjoiX2RpcmVjdCJ9fQ | title= Climatic changes during the Pliocene as observed from climate-sensitive rocks and clay minerals of the Sedom formation, the Dead Sea Basin | date = 2009 | first1=S. |last1= Shoval | first2 = Olga | last2 = Zlatkin | journal= Clay Minerals | doi= 10.1180/claymin.2009.044.4.469  }}</ref> The floods of the valley came and went depending on long-scale changes in the tectonic and [[Climate variability and change|climatic conditions]].<ref name=Stein/>

The Sedom Lagoon extended at its maximum from the [[Sea of Galilee]] in the north to somewhere around {{convert|50|km|mi|-1|abbr=on}} south of the current southern end of the Dead Sea, and the subsequent lakes never surpassed this expanse. The [[Hula Valley|Hula Depression]] was never part of any of these water bodies due to its higher elevation and the high threshold of the [[Chorazin#Geomorphology|Korazim block]] separating it from the Sea of Galilee basin.<ref name=Kafri2010>
{{cite book |author1= Uri Kafri |author2= Yoseph Yechieli |title= Groundwater Base Level Changes and Adjoining Hydrological Systems |year= 2010 |publisher= Springer Science & Business Media |isbn= 978-3-642-13944-4 |page= 123 |bibcode= 2010gblc.book.....K |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uu99EqQcZfYC&pg=PA123}}</ref>

===Salt deposits===
The Sedom Lagoon deposited [[evaporites]] mainly consisting of [[rock salt]], which eventually reached a thickness of {{convert|2.3|km|2|abbr=on}} on the old basin floor in the area of today's [[Mount Sedom]].<ref name="BenAvrahamKatsman15">{{cite journal |first1= Zvi |surname1= Ben-Avraham |first2= Regina |surname2= Katsman |title= The formation of graben morphology in the Dead Sea Fault, and its implications |journal= Geophysical Research Letters |publisher= American Geophysical Union |volume= 42 |issue= 17 |year= 2015 |at= 2.2. Sedimentary Regime, p. 6991 (of 6989–6996) |doi-access=free |doi= 10.1002/2015GL065111 |bibcode= 2015GeoRL..42.6989B |quote= Estuarine-lagoonal series of syn-rift evaporites of the latest Miocene—Pliocene ages. Sedimentary regime and mineral composition indicate that .... the Sedom formation in the DSB [Dead Sea Basin] .... , consisting mainly of [[halite]], can be related to ingression of sea waters .... through the Yezreel Valley inland into the Jordan-Arava rift valley (from the Sea of Galilee to the present-day Dead Sea....) in the Late Neogene. After its disconnection from the open sea that could be associated with either eustatic changes in the sea, tectonic uplift of Judea-Samaria anticline, or other processes [Stein, 2014], the rift valley was occupied by a series of hypersaline terminal lakes. They occasionally evaporated and precipitated halite. .... Restoration of the Sedom diapir to its original uniform thickness covering the basin floor yields 2.3 km.| issn = 0094-8276}}</ref>

===Lake formation===
[[File:ISS-55 Nile River delta, Egypt.jpg|thumb|[[NASA]] photo showing depth of the Dead Sea [[Drainage basin|basin]] (slightly below center). The Mediterranean Sea is on the right, with the Suez Canal visible connecting it to the Red Sea on left (slightly above center).]]

According to Kafri, during the late [[Neogene]], i.e. in the [[Pliocene]] (ended c. 2.5 million years ago), the [[eustatic sea level]] was at 50–100 metres [[above sea level|above the current sea level]], thus flooding the northern valleys connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the [[Jordan Rift Valley]], which led to the creation of a crooked-shaped lagoon. This high eustatic sea level situation subsequently came to an end, and the ocean could no longer flood the area. Thus, the long lagoon became a landlocked lake, which – due to the high evaporation rate – retreated toward the lower, southern part of the rift valley.<ref name=Kafri2010/> However, Mordechai Stein considers the formation process as not yet clarified, speaking of a late Pliocene-early [[Pleistocene]] process in which tectonics might also have played a part in blocking water ingression from the Mediterranean to its former bay or lagoon.<ref name=Stein/>

The first prehistoric lake to follow the Sedom Lagoon is named '''Lake Amora''' (which possibly appeared in the early Pleistocene; its sediments developed into the Amora (Samra) Formation, dated to over 200–80 [[kyr]] [[Before Present|BP]]), followed by '''[[Lake Lisan]]''' (c. 70–14 kyr) and finally by the Dead Sea.<ref name=Stein/><ref name=Kafri2010/><ref name=Torfstein/>

===Lake salinity===
The water levels and salinity of the successive lakes (Amora, Lisan, Dead Sea) have either risen or fallen as an effect of the tectonic dropping of the valley bottom, and due to climate variation. As the climate became more arid, Lake Lisan finally shrank and became saltier, leaving the Dead Sea as its last remainder.<ref name=Stein/><ref name="Kafri2010"/>

From 70,000 to 12,000 years ago, Lake Lisan's level was {{convert|100|to|250|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} higher than its current level, possibly due to lower evaporation than in the present.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zech |first1=Roland |last2=Zech |first2=Michael |last3=Marković |first3=Slobodan |last4=Hambach |first4=Ulrich |last5=Huang |first5=Yongsong |date=1 October 2013 |title=Humid glacials, arid interglacials? Critical thoughts on pedogenesis and paleoclimate based on multi-proxy analyses of the loess–paleosol sequence Crvenka, Northern Serbia |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018213003568 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=387 |pages=165–175 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.07.023 |bibcode=2013PPP...387..165Z |access-date=19 November 2022 |archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120071659/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018213003568 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sorin |first1=Lisker |last2=Anton |first2=Vaks |last3=Miryam |first3=Bar-Matthews |last4=Roi |first4=Porat |last5=Amos |first5=Frumkin |date=May 2010 |title=Late Pleistocene palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Dead Sea area (Israel), based on speleothems and cave stromatolites |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379110000302 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=29 |issue=9–10 |pages=1201–1211 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.01.018 |bibcode=2010QSRv...29.1201S |access-date=19 November 2022 |archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120071702/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379110000302 |url-status=live }}</ref> Its level fluctuated dramatically, rising to its highest level around 26,000 years ago, indicating a very wet climate in the [[Near East]].<ref name="SocietySociety1971">{{cite book |author1= Geochemical Society |author2= Meteoritical Society |title= Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3LccAQAAIAAJ |access-date= April 12, 2011 |year= 1971 |publisher= Pergamon Press |archive-date= October 30, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231030075942/https://books.google.com/books?id=3LccAQAAIAAJ |url-status= live }}</ref> Around 10,000 years ago, the lake's level dropped dramatically, probably even lower than today. During the last several thousand years, the lake has fluctuated approximately {{convert|400|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}}, with some significant drops and rises. Current theories as to the cause of this dramatic drop in levels rule out [[volcano|volcanic activity]]; therefore, it may have been a seismic event.

===Salt mounts formation===
In [[prehistoric times]], great amounts of sediment collected on the floor of Lake Amora.<ref name=Kafri2010/><ref name=Torfstein>{{cite journal | url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016703709000957?via%3Dihub | journal = Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta | volume= 73 | issue= 9 | date=  2009 |pages =2603-2630| title = U-series and oxygen isotope chronology of the mid-Pleistocene Lake Amora (Dead Sea basin) | first1 = Adi | last1 = Torfstein  | first2 =  Alexandra | last2 = Haase-Schramm  | first3 =  Nicolas | last3 = Waldmann  | first4 =  Yehoshua | last4 = Kolodny  | first5 =  Mordechai | last5 = Stein | doi= 10.1016/j.gca.2009.02.010  }}</ref> The sediment was heavier than the salt deposits and squeezed the salt deposits upwards into what are now the [[Lisan Peninsula]] and [[Mount Sodom]] (on the southwest side of the lake). Geologists explain the effect in terms of a bucket of mud into which a large flat stone is placed, forcing the mud to creep up the sides of the bucket. When the floor of the Dead Sea dropped further due to tectonic forces, the salt mounts of Lisan and Mount Sodom stayed in place as high cliffs (see [[salt dome]]).