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Fountains of Life at the Bottom of the Dead Sea

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Video of the Week #12, October 12, 2011

From:Fountains of Life Found at the Bottom of the Dead Sea by Jennifer Frazer at The Artful Amoeba.


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Original source:Ben-Gurion University YouTube channel.

This astonishing video footage shows freshwater springs jetting into the bottom of the Dead Sea from inside craters. Found as deep as 100 feet from the surface, the springs lie at the base of craters as large as 50 feet wide and 65 feet deep. A variety of interesting geological formations surround them. The springs roil the waters they flow into in a phantasmal slipstream. Starting at about 2:00, you can see it coiling and mixing like it's hundreds of degrees hotter or more sugary than the surrounding water.