A team of environmental scientists, who examined the sediments drilled from the Dead Sea, said their discovery proves the precarious existence of the remarkable body of water, which is currently diminishing at an alarming pace.
The Dead Sea, which marks the borders betweenIsrael and Jordan, would have little chance of surviving another period of extreme drought as its fresh water tributaries have been all but drained the populations surrounding it, mostly for the irrigation of crops, they warned.
The water body is the lowest point on the planet, sitting 425 meters below sea level. Its highly salted water, covers layer upon layer of sediment that captures with unique clarity the climatic history of the region reaching back thousands of years.
Holes drilled into the deepest point of the lake in late 2010 produced evidence that it very nearly evaporated about 120,000 years ago, when there were very few humans living by its shores.
