Lisan Peninsula

Lisan Peninsula (Hebrew: לשון ים המלח) is a massive salt layer in the inner part of the Dead Sea’s precursory lakes. It separates the North and the South basins of the Dead Sea.[1]

Lisan Peninsula, 1900
The Lisan Peninsula has expanded until it now completely severs the Dead Sea into two parts

History

Its name is Arabic for "tongue". The peninsula, located within Jordanian territory, separates the northern section of the Dead Sea from its shallow southern part. The northern tip is Cape Costigan, in memory of Christopher Costigan, an Irish explorer who perished in 1835 from heat and thirst after being stranded on the sea for days. He took the first known boat ride on the sea in modern times. The south-western tip is labeled as Cape Molyneux, in memory of Thomas Howard Molyneux, an officer in the British Royal Navy who explored the Dead Sea in August 1847 and perished on his return from the journey.

The dried water strait between the Lisan and the western coast of the Dead Sea is named Lynch Strait, after William Francis Lynch who explored the Dead Sea area in 1848.

Similar to the nearby Mount Sodom (Jebel Usdum), the peninsula is largely made up of white calcareous sediment containing beds of salt and gypsum, rising to 600 feet (180 m) on its eastern side. This tongue-shaped, emergent land results in a salt diapir uplifted in the Dead Sea strike-slip regional stress field which has been modified by water level fluctuations during the Holocene. These two elements, associated with dissolution caused by rainfall and groundwater circulation, have resulted in an authentic karst system.[2]

31°15′N 35°27′E

See also

References
  1. "Dead Sea | History & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-01-27.
  2. Karst system developed in salt layers of the Lisan Peninsula, Dead Sea, Jordan
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