The Dead Sea used to be 60km long and up tp 50km wide. Today it is only 40km long and less than 10km wide. It is -611m BELOW sea level (about 1800') and is the lowest place on each - part of the Pan-African Fault Line. The lake levels are so much lower because of extremely hot summers (48C) in recent years, mining of minerals and salts from the sea, not as many flash floods any more and the fact that the Jordan River no longer meets the Dead Sea - and has not for the past 25 years! The sea has receeded 250m in the past 5 years - a much faster rate in recent time.