How salty is the Dead Sea?
Dead Sea
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In the early part of the 20th century, the Dead Sea began to attract interest from chemists who deduced the sea was a natural deposit of potash (potassium chloride) and bromine. The Palestine Potash Company was chartered in 1929, after its founder, Siberian Jewish engineer and pioneer of Lake Baikal exploitation, Moses Novomeysky, worked for the charter for over ten years having first visited the area in 1911.[49] The first plant, on the north shore of the Dead Sea at Kalya, commenced production in 1931[49] and produced potash by solar evaporation of the brine. Employing Arabs and Jews, it was an island of peace in turbulent times.[50] The company quickly grew into the largest industrial site in the Middle East, and in 1934 built a second plant on the southwest shore, in the Mount Sodom area, south of the 'Lashon' region of the Dead Sea. Palestine Potash Company supplied half of Britain's potash during World War II. Both plants were destroyed by the Jordanians in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.[51]