Post date: Nov 09, 2011 8:22:43 PM
Israel is lobbying hard to have the Dead Sea named as one of the new "Seven Wonders of Nature", a list to be decided by vote and announced this week. The lobbying effort comes amid scientific research that has found life in the depths of the ancient sea, overturning the conventional wisdom that the water was too saline to support life. Stuart McDill reports.
REUTERS/ C. LOTT/HYDRA INSTITUTE - Tourists flock to it for the supposed health benefits of its mineral rich, salty waters - now, researchers say the Dead Sea is not dead after all.
The team, from the Max Planck Institute in Germany, collected samples from a system of deep water springs on the sea bed - the lowest point on Earth.Lead researcher Danny Lonescu says the team have discovered new forms of bacterial life.
DR DANNY LONESCU, MICROSENSOR GROUP, MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR MARINE MICROBIOLOGY SAYING:
"We surveyed a large number of springs in the area and surprisingly we found life, abundant life bacteria, now we found even algae in more concentrations and interestingly these organisms are different than what we find when the Dead Sea is diluted by rain or by flash floods."
The Dead Sea got its name by being thought to be so salty it could not support sea life.
It is eight times saltier than normal sea water - an extremely hostile environment, according to biologist, Christian Lott.
CHRISTIAN LOTT, BIOLOGIST, MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR MARINE MICROBIOLOGY SAYING:
"After a week of diving, we get burns, we get bruises, our skin is getting bad and these bugs just live right there, they love it, it's heaven for them."
Other than sea floor springs, only the River Jordan flows into the sea. As the sun evaporates the surface water, the salt and minerals are left behind - slowing increasing its density.
The presence of bacteria was first recognised in the 1930s, but the conditions made scientific diving difficult.
CHRISTIAN LOTT, BIOLOGIST, MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR MARINE MICROBIOLOGY SAYING:
"It's just fascinating, you just go there and normally it's really strenuous to go there, you just lay on the Dead Sea water and can't go down and we take lots of weight just to immerse ourselves and then you are down there and you have these spots, you know as a scientist you know it's just white spots, or coloured spots, but you know that they are bacteria and life forms that have never been looked at."
The team now want to know how these micro-organisms thrive in an environment too salty for other marine life - itself a wonder of the natural world.
Stuart McDill, Reuters