Venting chimneys have been discovered on the floor of the Dead Sea. These previously unknown “white smokers” spew salt water and provide early warning of sinkhole formation on nearby land.
The Dead Sea is sinking fast. Over the past 50 years, intense evaporation has caused it to sink by about 1 meter per year, with its surface now about 438 meters below sea level. This drop opened up new fissures in the rock layers and researchers wanted to understand how this could contribute to an alarming drop in freshwater aquifer levels occurring in Israel, Jordan and the West Bank.
Divers were instructed to take underwater resources along the western shore of the Dead Sea. To their surprise, they discovered chimney structures 2-3 meters in diameter and up to 7 meters high, spewing jets of white liquid. Laboratory analysis confirmed that the fluid came from surrounding freshwater aquifers that penetrate salty sediments beneath the Dead Sea, dissolving the salt and exhaling a brine solution. The brine quickly crystallizes to form the chimneys, which can grow by as much as a few centimeters in one day.
The research, which was published in Science of the total environmentindicate that clusters of fresh chimneys can provide early warning of where large sinkholes are likely to occur – a growing and dangerous issue in the region.
