A pool of water located close to the Dead Sea in the biblical region of Moab - modern day Jordan - has mysteriously turned blood red.
Water from the red lagoon just inside the Jordanian border is being sampled by workers from Jordan's Ministry of Water and Irrigation to determine the cause of the unsettling phenomenon which is as yet unexplained.
The images have sparked a furor on social media, with blood red waters carrying much significance in the Old Testament as one of the 10 plagues God cast upon the Pharaoh of Egypt to free the Jews from slavery.
According to the biblical tale, God turned the waters of the River Nile into blood, which killed the fish and prevented the Egyptians from drinking the foul water, in the first of 10 plagues that came as the Pharaoh's punishment for refusing to free his Jewish slaves.
The eastern shores of the Dead Sea where the blood red pond is located also happens to be where the two legendary cities of Sodom and Gomorrah stood before they were destroyed by God for their 'wickedness'.
The head of the Water and Agriculture Committee of the Al-Karak Council, Fathi Al-Huwaimel, said that the authorities have been contacted to work on identifying the source of the water.
But although the cause of the mysterious crimson waters remains unknown for now according to Jordan's ministry spokesperson Omar Salameh, a few theories have been posited as to why a lagoon isolated from fresh water could suddenly change color.
Director of Agriculture in the Southern Jordan Valley, Yassin al-Kasasbeh, told Roya News that this phenomenon is found in ponds close to seas due to the presence of a certain type of a bacteria and red algae that love salinity, which changes its colour with the presence of sunlight.
But this does not explain why the water suddenly turned red while other pools have not displayed the same phenomenon, particularly given that the region experiences near year-round sunny skies.
Other officials told Israel Today that the presence of iron oxide in the water could account for the strange colour change, but again did not give an explanation as to how the iron oxide would have been introduced to the pool, and why the colour change happened so rapidly.
Meanwhile, Sakhr Al-Nusour, the head of the Jordanian Geologists Syndicate, told the Al Ghad news that the red colour could have been caused by the addition of substances by humans.
This viewpoint was shared by many Jordanians who accused the government of covering up a source of pollution or their use of the pool as a dumping ground for waste chemicals.
The Dead Sea is a salt lake located in the Judean desert of southern Israel, bordered by Jordan to the East.
With its origin dating back to some four million years ago, it is one of earth’s saltiest bodies of water and is the lowest point on earth.
Its high level of salinity - well over 30% - means its waters are incredibly rich in minerals and the health benefits of bathing in the Dead Sea have long been touted, though it is so salty that the water cannot support marine life.
It has been found that people with respiratory diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, have appeared to benefit from increased atmospheric pressure in the region, while the temperature, humidity and water's minerals make it a perfect environment to treat skin problems.
It's also been suggested that Dead Sea mud pack therapy relieves pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knees.
However, the Dead Sea has shrank dramatically in recent years, most likely due to climate change.
It is now roughly 31 miles long and 9 miles wide at its widest point, but it is estimated that the Dead Sea’s water level has dropped by more than 131ft since the 1950s, and is now reducing by around two ft per year.
Last year, the Alexander River ran blood-red due to blood from slaughterhouses in the West Bank flowing into the river, according to the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.
3 comments:
"However, the Dead Sea has shrank dramatically in recent years, most likely due to climate change": Nice piece of progressist BS propaganda. The Dead sea has been shrinking for hundreds of years. With or without Greta.
Florida has had 119 hurricanes since 1850 but as everyone knows, the last one was due to climate change. Of course.
This pink color is partiallly due to the salt, and mainly due to sulfur gas coming from the center of the earth and escaping through rocks under the water.
Go see Lake Rose in Dakar, Senegal (West Africa), it's pink all year round.
"However, the Dead Sea has shrank dramatically in recent years, most likely due to climate change."
It shrunk a lot due to water from its feeders being diverted for irrigation.
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