A study of sinkholes in the former bed of the Dead Sea, Jordan.

The Dead Sea is the lowest point on the continents on Earth (-434 m) and is becoming lower still, by about 1 m per year. One consequence is the appearance of over 3000 sinkholes around the Dead Sea shore in the last 35 years. This image shows a relatively small, ca. 10 m diameter, ca. 1 m deep sinkhole that developed in interbedded mud and salt deposits. The current shoreline of the Dead Sea is visible in the background. The shoreline has retreated by over 1 km since 1990 to reveal this landscape. Scientists working within the Dead Sea Research Venue (DESERVE), a Helmholtz Virtual Institute, are here measuring the water level with GPS and quantifying the temperature and electrical conductivity with a digital multimeter. They are also collecting samples for isotope analysis. The goal is to characterise the hydrological conditions driving sinkhole formation here and so to better understand the underlying processes.