The Interface Configuration of the Fresh‐/Dead Sea Water – Theory and Measurements

The high‐density Dead Sea water (1.235 g/cm³) forms a special interface configuration with the fresh groundwater resources of its surrounding aquifers. The fresh groundwater column beneath its surroundings is around one tenth of its length compared to oceanic water. This fact alone indicates the vulnerability of the fresh groundwater resources to the impacts of changes in the Dead Sea level and to saltwater migration. Ghyben‐Herzberg and Glover equations were used to calculate the volumes of water in coastal aquifers which were replaced by freshwater due to the interface seaward migration as a result of the drop in the level of the Dead Sea. For that purpose, the dynamic equation of Glover approach has been integrated to accommodate that type of interface readjustment. The calculated amounts of freshwater which substituted salt Dead Sea water due to the migration of interface are 3.21 · 10¹¹ m³, from a Dead Sea level of –392 m to τ411 m below sea level. The average porosity of coastal aquifers was calculated to range from 2.8 to 2.94%. Geoelectric sounding measurements showed that areas underlying the coastal aquifers formerly occupied by the Dead Sea water are gradually becoming flushed and occupied by freshwater. The latter is becoming salinized due to the residuals of Dead Sea water in the aquifer matrix, the present salinity of which is lower than that of the Dead Sea water. At the same time salt dissolution from the Lisan Marl formation is causing collapses along the shorelines in the form of sinkholes, tens of meters in diameter and depth.     

Changes in the Dead Sea Level and their Impacts on the Surrounding Groundwater Bodies

In this paper the reaction of the salt‐/freshwater interface due to the changes in the Dead Sea level are elaborated at in details by using the inflows into the Dead Sea, the outflows due to evaporation losses and artificial discharges, and the hydrographic registrations of the Dead Sea level. The analyses show that the interface seaward migration resulted in a groundwater discharge of around 423 Mio m³ per meter drop in the level of the Dead Sea in the period 1994–1998 and of around 525 Mio m³/m in the period 1930–1937. The additional amount of groundwater joining the Dead Sea due to the interface seaward migration was 51 Mio m³ per one square kilometer of shrinkage in the area of the Dead Sea in the period 1930–1937 and 91 Mio m³/km² in the period 1994–1998. The riparian states of the Dead Sea are nowadays loosing 370 Mio m³/a of freshwater to the Dead Sea through the interface readjustment mechanisms as a result of their over exploitation of waters which formerly fed the Dead Sea.