The Dead Sea is the lowest place on Earth's land, and it is shrinking by about 3 feet every single year.

The Dead Sea sits in a deep crack in the Earth's crust called the Jordan Rift Valley. This valley was formed by two giant tectonic plates, the African and Arabian plates, slowly pulling away from each other over millions of years. Today, the surface of the water is about 430 meters (1,411 feet) below sea level, making it the lowest dry spot on the planet.The lake is disappearing because its main water source, the Jordan River, is being used for farming and drinking water. In the 1930s, the river sent 1,300 million cubic meters of water into the lake every year, but now it sends less than 100 million. Because the area is a desert, temperatures often soar above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), causing the remaining water to evaporate into the air very fast.This evaporation leaves behind a soup of minerals like magnesium and potassium. The water is 34% salt, which is nearly ten times saltier than the ocean. This extreme saltiness is why fish cannot live there and why the water is so dense. A liter of Dead Sea water weighs about 1.24 kilograms, while a liter of fresh water weighs only 1 kilogram.As the water level drops, it creates a dangerous problem called sinkholes. When the lake shrinks, fresh groundwater moves in and dissolves old salt layers hidden underground. This makes the ground above collapse without warning. Scientists have counted over 6,000 of these holes appearing along the shores since the 1980s. Researchers use satellites to watch the land, finding that some areas are sinking by 15 centimeters (6 inches) every year.