Massive Sinkholes Break Open As Dead Sea Shrivels EIN GEDI, ISRAEL — Mar 17, 2015, 2:33 PM ET
By MOLLY HUNTER
There are more than 3,000 sinkholes on the banks of the Dead Sea -- and they're multiplying exponentially, according to environmentalists, as the body of water dries up.
"It's nature's revenge," said Gidon Bromberg, the Israeli Director at EcoPeace Middle East, an organization that brings together Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli environmentalists to protect their shared environmental heritage.
"These sinkholes are a direct result of the inappropriate mismanagement of water resources in the region."
More than 1,400 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on land. The first sinkhole was spotted in the 1980s. By 1990, there were 40, and 15 years later new chasms are breaking open every day.
"They could develop overnight. Or over time," Bromberg said. "Making them unpredictable. And very dangerous."
With salinity levels ten times that of the Atlantic Ocean, the Dead Sea is evaporating at a rate of nearly four feet per year and large salt pockets are left behind as the water recedes. As ground water dissolves the salt, washing it back into the Dead Sea, empty cavities develop creating massive sink holes.
Bromberg explained that sinkholes develop in clusters, collapsing into each other and creating even larger craters.
"The big fear is that overnight, the road will collapse," Bromberg said of Route 90, which runs along the Dead Sea.
A portion of Route 90 was closed for repairs this week after parts of the road sank some two inches.
Bromberg said the only way to halt the opening of these chasms is to "stabilize" the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea relies on the fresh water of the Jordan River -- but only about 5 percent of the historic flow is currently flowing into the Dead Sea.
Bromberg's organization argues that 30 percent of the historic flow would at least be a step in the right direction.
"If nothing is done, it's only a matter of time until someone dies," he said.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/massive-sinkholes-break-open-dead-sea-shrivels/story?id=29671903hit the links and watch the vids
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Thousands of Sinkholes Open at Edge of Dead SeaThey've been a problem since the '80s, and they're getting worse
By Kate Seamons, Newser Staff
Posted Mar 18, 2015 11:01 AM CDT
(Newser) – You'll find shells on the shores of many bodies of water; on the banks of the Dead Sea, you'll find sinkholes, and more than 3,000 of them at that. Their existence isn't new—ABC News reports the first one opened up three decades ago, and a 2005 Smithsonian article tallied more than 1,000—but their number and pace are grabbing notice. An environmental expert puts it plainly: We're to blame. "These sinkholes are a direct result of the inappropriate mismanagement of water resources in the region," says Gidon Bromberg, a director with EcoPeace Middle East. And they're causing real problems. Haaretz in late January reported that sinkholes have crept up to Route 90, the road adjacent to the Dead Sea, causing part of the road to sink and triggering a temporary closure that a local official framed as devastating for tourism in the region. "You might as well just wipe it off the map."
Experts have long warned the Dead Sea itself could be wiped off the map: It's dropping four feet per year, and Smithsonian explained the science of the shrinkage: "The fresh water aquifers along the perimeter of the lake are receding. As this fresh water diffuses into salt deposits beneath the surface of the shoreline, the water slowly dissolves the deposits until the earth above collapses without warning." The sinkholes are not just unpredictable, says Bromberg. They also emerge in groups and open into each other, growing mammoth ones. He sees a path to stabilization, though: diverting more of the Jordan River's fresh water into the Dead Sea. Meanwhile, Israel and Jordan last month signed an agreement that will see water from the Red Sea channeled into the Dead Sea, the Jerusalem Post reported, though some have expressed skepticism about the plan. (Read about four more lakes that are disappearing.)
http://www.newser.com/story/204190/thousands-of-sinkholes-open-at-edge-of-dead-sea.html~~~~~~~~
Canal project from Dead Sea to Red Sea makes wavesRAMALLAH, West Bank — On Dec. 9, 2013, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington to begin work on the Bahrain canal under the sponsorship of the World Bank, to connect the Red Sea and the Dead Sea. The canal aims at preventing the decrease in water levels suffered by the latter. ...
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/03/israel-jordan-palestine-absence-bahrain-canal-project.html
