Dead Sea

The name given by Greek writers of the second century to that inland sea called in Scripture the "salt sea" (Gen.14:3; Num.34:12), the "sea of the plain" (Deut.3:17), the "east sea" (Ezek.47:18; Joel 2:20), and simply "the sea" (Ezek.47:8). The Arabs call it Bahr Lut, i.e; the sea of Lot. It lies about 16 miles in a straight line to the east of Jerusalem. Its surface is 1,292 feet below the surface of the Mediterranean Sea. It covers an area of about 300 square miles. Its depth varies from 1,310 to 11 feet. It is about 53 miles long, and of an average breadth of 10 miles. It has no outlet, the great heat of that region causing such rapid evaporation that its average depth, notwithstanding the rivers that run into it, is maintained with little variation. The waters of the Dead Sea contain 24.6 percent, of mineral salts, about seven times as much as in ordinary sea-water; thus they are unusually buoyant. Cloride of magnesium is most abundant; next to that cloride of sodium (common salt). Nothing living can exist in this sea.

Content taken from Easton's Bible Dictionary entry on Dead Sea