Mount Sodom Explained

Mount Sodom (Hebrew: הר סדום, Har Sedom) is a hill along the southwestern part of the Dead Sea in Israel; it is part of the Judaean Desert Nature Reserve.^[1] It takes its name from the legendary city of Sodom, whose destruction is the subject of a narrative in the Bible.

History

Mount Sodom began its rise hundreds of thousands of years ago and continues to grow taller at a rate of 3.5mm a year.^[2]

Movements of the Great Rift Valley system, along with the pressure generated by the slow accumulation of earth and rock, pressed down on the layers of salt, creating Mount Sodom. It is about 80% salt, 220m (720feet) high, capped by a layer of limestone, clay and conglomerate that was dragged along as it was squeezed up from the valley floor.^[3]

It is approximately 8km (05miles) long, 5km (03miles) wide, and 742feet above the Dead Sea water level, yet 557feet below world mean sea level. Because of weathering, some portions have separated. One of these pillars is known as "Lot's wife",^[4] in reference to the Biblical account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

See also

• Judean Desert
• Nature reserves of Israel
• Tourism in Israel

References

31.0719°N 35.3969°W

Notes and References

1. Book: Mattes . Johannes . Christian . Erhard . Plan . Lukas . Proceedings of the 12th EuroSpeleo Forum: Ebensee, Austria, August 23rd-26th, 2018 : Connecting Science . 2018 . Speleological Society of Ebensee . 978-3-903093-30-0 . 6 May 2020 . en.
2. Book: Hareuveni, Imanuel. he:קום התהלך בארץ: מדריך שמורות טבע בישראל. 1985. Israel Ministry of Defense. Israel. 965-05-0193-2. 406, 409. 2nd. he. Nature Reserves in Israel. בחלקהּ הדר' של הבקעה מתרומם הר סדום (פסגתו 240 מ' מעל פני ים המלח. ארכו כ-11 ק"מ ורוחבו כ-2 ק"מ), לו נוף מיוחד של עמקי אורך ורכסי אורך, שכיוונם הכללי צפ'-דר' והבנוי, בעיקרו, סלעי מלח." "ראשית התרוממות ההר החלה לפני כמה מאות אלפי שנים. ב-20 אלף השנים האחרונות התרומם ההר בקצב של 3.5 מ"מ בשנה, והתרוממות זו נמשכת גם כיום..
3. News: Punished for looking back, Lot's wife may fall forward . Robert . Ruby . The Baltimore Sun . 18 December 1991 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304103347/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-12-18/news/1991352008_1_lot-wife-pillar-sodom . 4 March 2016 . live.
4. Book: Lefond, Stanley J. . 2012 . Handbook of World Salt Resources . Springer . 337.