The Dead Sea is actually a lake into which the Jordan River and several other smaller rivers empty. The lake is about 50 miles long and has a width of 10 miles at its widest point. The surface of the lake is 1,292 feet below sea level and at its deepest point the lake bottom is 1,300 feet below the water surface. In the shallow parts of the lake the water is 10 to 15 feet deep.
The salt and mineral concentration in the Dead Sea is very high since rivers empty into it not just their waters but the silt and minerals they carry. The salt content of the Dead Sea is 35% making the lake 5 times saltier than the ocean. No marine life exists in the Dead Sea although some fish can survive in the less salty pools around the lake. The high salt and mineral content makes it almost impossible for a person to sink in the waters.
Each day the Jordan River empties six million tons of water into the Dead Sea but the surface does not rise more than 10 to 15 feet. This is due to the rapid evaporation of the water due to the heat of the area and to the acidness of the lake's location below sea level.
In the Hebrew Bible the Dead Sea is referred to as the Salt Sea (Gen. 14:3), Sea of the Plain (Deut. 4:49), and Eastern Sea. The name Dead Sea was not applied to the lake until after 100 C.E.
Photograph above of the Dead Sea as seen from Qumran taken by Bob Dunston