“The Dead Sea is so salty that salt crystallises straight out of the water, encrusting the shore in glittering white sculptures.”
About Salt Formations
The Dead Sea's exceptional salinity results from its position at the lowest point on Earth in a hot, enclosed basin where water evaporates and minerals concentrate. As the water evaporates and, in recent decades, as the sea level falls, salt precipitates out to form crusts, pillars and crystal formations along the shore. These natural sculptures are a striking by-product of the lake's unique chemistry.
What Salt Formations actually is
Along the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan, the extraordinary salinity of the water has created surreal salt formations, crystalline white crusts, pillars and sculptures of salt that build up where the mineral-laden water meets the air and the shore. These glittering deposits are among the strangest and most photogenic sights of the lowest place on Earth.
These glittering deposits are among the strangest and most photogenic sights of the lowest place on Earth.
Crystals From the Saltiest Sea
The Dead Sea is roughly ten times saltier than the ocean, so saturated with salt and minerals that nothing can live in it and that salt readily crystallises out of the water. Along the shoreline and on submerged objects, this produces dazzling white formations: salt-encrusted rocks, delicate crystal structures and, as the sea level drops, expanses of hardened salt. The combination of the white salt, the turquoise water and the desert hills is otherworldly.
The Experience
Following the Dead Sea shore to find rocks and objects sheathed in brilliant white salt, crystalline shapes glinting in the sun against the strikingly blue, dense water. Photographers prize the surreal contrast of white salt, blue sea and barren hills. The formations pair naturally with the iconic Dead Sea experience of floating effortlessly in the buoyant, mineral-rich water.
Why It Matters
The salt formations are a vivid expression of the Dead Sea's extreme and singular nature, the saltiest major water body and the lowest point on the planet. They highlight the unusual chemistry and the environmental changes of this unusual place, and add a surreal visual element to a visit to its shores.
The salt formations are a vivid expression of the Dead Sea's extreme and singular nature, the saltiest major water body and the lowest point on the planet.
Why Visit
The surreal white salt crystal formations along the Dead Sea shore, a photogenic natural wonder at the lowest point on Earth, alongside the famous float.
✦ Insider Tips
- 1
Photograph the white salt against the blue water and desert hills.
- 2
Do not get the salty water in your eyes or on cuts; it stings.
- 3
The basin is brutally hot in summer; visit in cooler seasons.
