Within Jordan Forteana
Why the Dead Sea Looks Like Impact Country
Dead Sea sinkholes turn ordinary geology into eerie crater-like landscapes that invite stories of sky falls and sacred disaster.
On this page
- How sinkholes form near the Dead Sea
- Why locals saw star holes
- Lot, salt and sacred geography
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Introduction
The Dead Sea shoreline is one of the few places on Earth where the landscape can genuinely look as though it has been bombarded from the sky. Fresh, steep-sided craters appear without warning, abandoned roads end abruptly in collapsed ground, and whole groves have disappeared into circular pits. At first glance, it is easy to imagine meteor impacts or some forgotten catastrophe. That visual impression has helped create modern tales of “star holes” – natural sinkholes interpreted through older ideas about heavenly fire, sacred judgement and objects falling from the sky.
The reality is no less remarkable. The craters are the product of a rare geological process driven by the shrinking Dead Sea rather than by asteroids. Yet because they appear in a landscape already associated with the biblical destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the story of Lot’s wife becoming a pillar of salt, they have become one of Jordan’s most distinctive examples of how real geology and uncanny folklore reinforce one another.[Live Science]livescience.comLive ScienceWhy Dangerous Sinkholes Keep Appearing Along the…April 6, 2015 — 6 Apr 2015 — The sinkholes can reach up to 82 feet (25 m)…
How sinkholes form near the Dead Sea
The “star holes” are sinkholes created as the Dead Sea continues to recede. Over recent decades the lake has fallen by more than a metre in many years because less water reaches it from the Jordan River and because of heavy evaporation and industrial water use. As the shoreline retreats, buried layers of ancient salt are exposed to relatively fresh groundwater.
Unlike the hypersaline Dead Sea itself, fresh groundwater readily dissolves these underground salt beds. Cavities gradually grow beneath the surface until the overlying sediment can no longer support its own weight. The roof then collapses, sometimes within seconds, leaving a near-circular crater that may be only a few metres across or more than 30–40 metres wide and over 20 metres deep.[researchgate.net]researchgate.netSinkhole precursors along the Dead Sea, Israel, revealed…This drop has triggered the formation of sinkholes and widespread…
Several features make these sinkholes especially striking:
- They often appear suddenly where the ground looked perfectly stable.
- Many are almost circular, resembling impact craters.
- Clusters of holes can create landscapes resembling a field of bomb craters.
- New collapses continue to appear as the shoreline changes.
Thousands now exist around the Dead Sea basin, although they are unevenly distributed. The western shoreline has experienced the greatest concentration, but sinkholes also occur on the Jordanian side where similar geological conditions exist.[deadsea.com]deadsea.comDead Sea.com Dead Sea Sink holes: Causes, Dangers and Safe AreasLearn where it is safest to visit, how sinkholes form, and which areas are dangerous in this verified safety guide…
Why locals saw “star holes”
There is little evidence for a long-established formal Jordanian folklore tradition using the specific phrase “star holes”. Instead, the idea belongs to a wider pattern of popular interpretation: unusual circular holes naturally invite stories that something fell from the heavens.
That interpretation makes intuitive sense because fresh sinkholes often resemble:
- meteorite impact craters;
- artillery impacts;
- volcanic vents; or
- places where supernatural forces have broken through the earth.
In a region where celestial signs already carried religious meaning, sudden circular holes appearing almost overnight encouraged imaginative explanations. Visitors unfamiliar with the area’s geology have repeatedly mistaken sinkholes for meteor impacts, while guidebooks and journalists have noted how readily the landscape suggests cosmic disaster before the geological explanation becomes clear.[Live Science]livescience.comLive ScienceWhy Dangerous Sinkholes Keep Appearing Along the…April 6, 2015 — 6 Apr 2015 — The sinkholes can reach up to 82 feet (25 m)…
For Fortean enthusiasts, this is an instructive example of how an entirely natural process can generate enduring mystery. The visual evidence genuinely looks extraordinary, even though the mechanism is well understood.
Why the Dead Sea resembles an impact landscape
The resemblance to an asteroid field is more than superficial.
Real impact craters and Dead Sea sinkholes share several visual characteristics:
SinkholesMeteor impactsCircular depressionsCircular depressionsSteep wallsRaised rims or steep wallsOccur in clustersCan occur in crater fieldsSudden appearanceSudden creationBare exposed groundFresh exposed rock
The crucial difference lies beneath the surface.
Meteor impacts fracture rock from above through immense kinetic energy. Dead Sea sinkholes collapse from below after underground salt dissolves. Scientific investigations have found no evidence that the modern sinkhole fields are impact structures. Instead, satellite observations, field mapping and geophysical studies consistently connect them to underground cavity formation as the shoreline retreats.[ResearchGate]researchgate.netSinkhole precursors along the Dead Sea, Israel, revealed…This drop has triggered the formation of sinkholes and widespread…
That distinction matters because Jordan also has genuine meteorite-related stories and at least one confirmed impact structure elsewhere in the country. The sinkholes demonstrate how appearances alone can encourage cosmic interpretations even when geology tells another story.
Lot, salt and sacred geography
The Dead Sea has never been an ordinary landscape in cultural memory.
For Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions, the southern Dead Sea region is associated with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s escape and the transformation of Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt. Whether or not particular locations can be linked with those narratives historically, the surrounding landscape has long been interpreted through ideas of divine judgement, fire from heaven and extraordinary geological change.
Against that backdrop, fresh sinkholes acquire symbolic power beyond their physical origins.
A newly collapsed crater can seem to echo familiar themes:
- land becoming unstable after divine punishment;
- salt acting as an agent of transformation;
- hidden destruction beneath an apparently solid surface;
- reminders that the region remains physically dynamic.
This does not mean local people literally interpret every sinkhole as evidence of biblical events. Rather, sacred geography provides a narrative framework that makes dramatic geological change feel meaningful instead of merely accidental.
Why the legends persist despite the science
Scientific explanations have not made the sinkholes less fascinating. In some ways they have increased public interest because the true mechanism is itself unusual.
Researchers continue to monitor new collapses because sinkholes threaten roads, farms, tourist facilities and infrastructure. Some formerly popular sites around the Dead Sea have had to close after repeated collapses made them unsafe. The expanding sinkhole fields have therefore become both a geological laboratory and an environmental warning about the consequences of the Dead Sea’s continuing decline.[deadsea.com]deadsea.comDead Sea.com Dead Sea Sink holes: Causes, Dangers and Safe AreasLearn where it is safest to visit, how sinkholes form, and which areas are dangerous in this verified safety guide…
Meanwhile, the visual drama remains irresistible. Photographs of perfectly circular craters beside intensely blue water circulate widely online, often stripped of their geological context. It takes little imagination for these images to become attached to stories of ancient disasters, heavenly fire or mysterious “star holes”.
A classic Jordanian Fortean landscape
The Dead Sea sinkholes illustrate a recurring pattern in Jordan’s strange history. An objectively unusual natural phenomenon occupies a landscape already dense with sacred memory and historical storytelling. The result is not evidence of supernatural forces, but a place where geology naturally encourages extraordinary interpretations.
For Forteana, that combination is more revealing than a simple tale of unexplained events. The “star holes” show how human beings read dramatic landscapes through existing beliefs, connecting sudden collapses with biblical catastrophe, celestial signs and ancient memory. The science explains how the holes form, but it also explains why they continue to inspire stories: few geological processes produce scenery that so convincingly resembles the aftermath of something falling from the sky.
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Endnotes
1.
Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257673169_Sinkhole_precursors_along_the_Dead_Sea_Israel_revealed_by_SAR_interferometry
Source snippet
Sinkhole precursors along the Dead Sea, Israel, revealed...This drop has triggered the formation of sinkholes and widespread...
2.
Source: deadsea.com
Title: Dead Sea.com Dead Sea Sink holes: Causes, Dangers and Safe Areas
Link:https://deadsea.com/dead-sea-sinkholes/
Source snippet
Learn where it is safest to visit, how sinkholes form, and which areas are dangerous in this verified safety guide...
3.
Source: merip.org
Title: terra infirma dead sea sinkholes a photo essay
Link:https://www.merip.org/2020/10/terra-infirma-dead-sea-sinkholes-a-photo-essay/
Source snippet
Terra Infirma – Dead Sea Sinkholes – A Photo Essay20 Oct 2020 — Sinkholes—the stories they tell and the plans they disrupt—have an import...
4.
Source: livescience.com
Link:https://www.livescience.com/50379-dead-sea-sinkholes.html
Source snippet
Live ScienceWhy Dangerous Sinkholes Keep Appearing Along the...April 6, 2015 — 6 Apr 2015 — The sinkholes can reach up to 82 feet (25 m)...
Published: April 6, 2015
5.
Source: atlasobscura.com
Title: dead sea sinkhole kayaks israel
Link:https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/dead-sea-sinkhole-kayaks-israel
Source snippet
Is There a Future for the Sinkhole-Studded Dead Sea?1 Jun 2022 — According to geologist Eli Raz, the Dead Sea region already has roughly...
Additional References
6.
Source: jewishvirtuallibrary.org
Link:https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-dead-sea
Source snippet
Geography of Israel: The Dead SeaThe Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth at about 1,300 feet (400 m.) below sea level, lies at the southe...
7.
Source: youtube.com
Title: ‘Nature’s revenge’: The sinkholes left behind by the shrinking Dead Sea
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuu2-dZ3Wr4
Source snippet
4 Salt, Sewage and Sinkholes: The Death of the Dead Sea | Foreign Correspondent...
8.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Salt, Sewage and Sinkholes: The Death of the Dead Sea | Foreign Correspondent
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqh6hGLqAG8
Source snippet
5 Thousands of sinkholes emerge as the Dead Sea continues to recede...
9.
Source: timesofisrael.com
Title: Even if
Link:https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-dead-sea-dries-its-pit-pocked-shores-precipitate-return-to-nature/
Source snippet
The Times of IsraelAs the Dead Sea dries, its collapsing shores force a return...13 Feb 2017 — As the shoreline recedes, fresh water is...
10.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Land sinking as Dead Sea shrinks
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZIX3sB6PyU
Source snippet
3 'Nature's revenge': The sinkholes left behind by the shrinking Dead Sea...
11.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Thousands of sinkholes emerge as the Dead Sea continues to recede
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89y1HIaGD5M
12.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Israel Is About to Flood the Dead Sea
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZm9eNkIq2E
Source snippet
2 Land sinking as Dead Sea shrinks...
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