Short answer: The Dead Sea is so salty because it is a terminal (endorheic) lake with no outlet. The Jordan River and desert streams carry dissolved minerals in, but under the intense desert sun water can only leave by evaporation, which strands the salts and concentrates them over hundreds of thousands of years. The result is a salinity of roughly 34 percent, close to ten times saltier than the ocean, and dense enough that swimmers float without effort. Its salt is also chemically unusual, dominated by magnesium chloride rather than the sodium chloride that rules seawater.
The science: a lake with no way out
Most lakes have a river running out of them, which carries water and dissolved minerals downstream and keeps the lake fresh. The Dead Sea does not. It sits at the bottom of the Jordan Rift Valley as a landlocked terminal lake, so the only way water escapes is by evaporating into the dry desert air. Fresh water arrives through the Jordan River and seasonal streams, carrying a small load of dissolved minerals with it. When that water evaporates, the minerals stay behind. Repeat that cycle for hundreds of thousands of years and the concentration climbs to extremes, which is exactly what has happened here (Live Science).
The numbers are striking. Salinity sits around 34 percent, close to ten times the ocean's roughly 3.5 percent, which makes the Dead Sea one of the saltiest bodies of water on Earth (DeadSea.com). It is also the lowest exposed land on the planet: its surface now sits around 439 meters below sea level, lower than the roughly 430 meters often quoted in older sources, because the level keeps dropping year after year (DeadSea.com water level report).
Not your ordinary salt
Here is the part that surprises most people: the Dead Sea's salt is chemically different from the salt in the ocean. Seawater is about 97 percent sodium chloride, ordinary table salt. Dead Sea salt is dominated by magnesium chloride (roughly half), with potassium and calcium chlorides in the mix and only a minority of sodium chloride (New World Encyclopedia; IFLScience). That unusual chemistry gives the water a slightly oily, silky feel and is a large part of its therapeutic reputation.
The mineral load also explains the famous floating. So much dissolved salt makes the water roughly a quarter denser than the human body, so bathers bob on the surface without any effort at all, often reading a newspaper as they drift. The same salinity is too harsh for fish or plants to survive, which is how the lake earned its name (in Hebrew, Yam HaMelach, the Sea of Salt) (DeadSea.com).
Ancient shores and modern stress
The Dead Sea is woven into Jewish and biblical history. Its western shore is where David sheltered at Ein Gedi during his flight from King Saul, and just nearby at Qumran the Dead Sea Scrolls were later produced and hidden, by a community that lived there until it was destroyed in the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (Library of Congress). For thousands of years the region has drawn people to its shores for refuge, ritual, and healing.
That healing tradition is more than folklore. The mineral-rich water and mud are used therapeutically today, with clinical support for treating psoriasis, eczema, and rheumatic conditions through Dead Sea balneotherapy and climatotherapy; magnesium is the mineral most closely tied to the skin benefits (DeadSea.com health guide).
The lake is also under real strain. As inflow from the Jordan River is diverted upstream for farms and cities, the Dead Sea is shrinking by roughly 1 to 1.4 meters every year, exposing former lakebed and opening thousands of sinkholes along the Israeli shore (The National; CNN). Protecting it has become an active concern for Israel and its neighbors.
Bring the Dead Sea home
You do not have to fly to the Jordan Rift Valley to feel what makes this water special. The same magnesium-rich minerals that draw visitors to the shore are captured in our Dead Sea collection: authentic mineral mud, bath salt, and mineral face and body care sourced from Israel's most famous lake. It is the wellness tradition of the Dead Sea, minus the flight, and a small way to bring a piece of Israel into your daily routine.
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Last updated July 2026.
