The Dead Sea lies between the hills of Judaea to the west and the Tr.... dead sea

The flows from the north into the Dead Sea, which is 50 miles (80 km) long and attains a width of 11 miles (18 km). The peninsula of Al-Lisan (Arabic: The Tongue) divides the lake on its eastern side into two unequal basins: the northern basin encompasses about three-fourths of the lake's total surface area and reaches a depth of 1,300 feet (400 metres); the southern basin is smaller and shallower (less than 10 feet [3 metres] on average). The Dead Sea figures in biblical accounts dating to the time of (progenitor of the Hebrews) and the destruction of (the two cities along the lake, according to the Hebrew bible, that were destroyed by fire from heaven because of their wickedness). During the Miocene Epoch (23.8 to 5.3 million years ago), as the Arabian tectonic plate collided with the Eurasian plate to the north, upheaval of the seabed produced the upfolded structures of the Transjordanian highlands and the central range of Palestine, causing the fractures that allowed the! Dead Sea graben to drop. During the Pleistocene Epoch (1,800,000 to 10,000 years ago), it rose to an elevation of about 700 feet (200 metres) above its modern level, forming a vast inland sea that stretched some 200 miles (320 km) from the area in the north to 40 miles (64 km) beyond its present southern limits. In so doing, it bared deposits that cover the Dead Sea valley to a thickness of about 1 to 4 miles (2 to 6 km). Both Al-Lisan and beds made of similar material on the western side of the Dead Sea valley dip to the east. It is assumed that the uplifting of Mount Sedom and Al-Lisan formed a southern escarpment for the Dead Sea. Later the sea broke through the western half of this escarpment to flood what is now the shallow southern end of the Dead Sea. Lake and land breezes, which are relatively common, blow off the lake in all directions in the daytime and then reverse direction to blow toward the centre of the lake at night. The waters of the Dead Sea are extremely! saline, and the concentration of salt increases toward the bo! ttom. The fresh water of the Jordan stays on the surface; in the spring its muddy colour can be traced across the lake as far as 30 miles (50 km) south of the point where the river empties into the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea constitutes an enormous salt reserve. , Living Waters: Myth, History, and Politics of the Dead Sea (1988), explores the sea's natural history, political history, exploration, and use. Gat (eds.), The Dead Sea: The Lake and Its Setting (1997).