A small sinkhole at the region of the Dead Sea can be seen rapidly expanding in a new video recorded and edited by the Geological Survey of Israel, and posted on social media on Monday. The shooting took place last week, and offers a rare glimpse at the power and awe-inspiring forces of nature at work.
Edited by Iyad Swaed into a short 5 minute video, the footage compresses roughly two hours of filming with background noises being cleaned off the final result to offer the viewer a chance to focus on the unusual geological event.
The Dead Sea region has roughly 7,000 sinkholes and will have double that number, 14,000, in the next few years geologist Eli Raz told N12. Raz himself fell into a sinkhole in 2003.
The sinkholes in the Dead Sea region have been proven to be the result of man-made dams and industrial activity which decreased the water volume in the Jordan River and, as a result, the volume of water currently in the Dead Sea.The sinkholes are a real danger to those driving on roads in that part of the country. According to Prof. Shlomo Shoval from the Open University of Israel, the sinkholes will eventually “solve themselves” once a new outlay of the land will be formed. Others call on conservation efforts or even to restore these natural sites.