On the Problem of Gypsum Deposition in the Dead Sea in the Case of Two Seas Canal Construction

Abstract

The Dead Sea is a terminal lake, being the lowest and one of the most saline lakes on earth. For more than last fifty years the water level of the Dead Sea drastically decreased resulting in a drop of more than 30 m since beginning of sixties of the last century. The present level and size of the Dead Sea and its development are determined by a negative water balance between precipitation, runoff and evaporation. One of the possible ways to stop reducing the surface level of the Dead See and even to reverse this process, it is to supply seawater by connecting the Dead Sea with a world ocean system. The first and the most suitable choice discussed from the seventies of the last century was a canal connecting the Dead Sea with the Mediterranean Sea. However, due to geopolitical situation in this region the project of Dead Sea - Mediterranean Sea canal was abandoned, and another two seas canal variant has been studying for the last several decades, namely a canal between the Dead Sea and the Rea Sea via the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba. The problems attracting the wide public attention for this canal construction are the ecological effects of mixing the waters of the Dead Sea and seawater from the Red Sea if the canal between these two seas will be built. There are some fears that under certain conditions, a layer of gypsum crystals floating on the Dead Sea surface will be formed causing some undesirable ecological effects in local environment. In the present article the rates of the deposition of gypsum crystals in the mixtures of the Dead Sea water with seawater were estimated by using the experimental viscosity and density values of these waters mixtures. The results of these calculations allowed us to assume that there is no danger that gypsum crystals, which can be formed under certain conditions during mixing of Dead Sea and seawater, will float on the Dead Sea water surface forever and after a relatively short period of time, depending on the dimensions of the crystals, gypsum crystals will sink to the bottom.