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Dead Sea salt

salt extracted from the Dead Sea

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 11, 2026
Entity authorityQ955309 ↗
Source-derived summary

Dead Sea salt refers to salt and other mineral deposits extracted or taken from the Dead Sea. The composition of this material differs significantly from oceanic salt.

History

Dead Sea salt was used by the peoples of Ancient Egypt and it has been utilized in various unguents, skin creams, and soaps since then.

Mineral composition

The Dead Sea's mineral composition varies with season, rainfall, depth of deposit, and ambient temperature. Most oceanic salt is approximately 85 wt.% sodium chloride (the same salt as table salt) while Dead Sea salt is only 30.5 wt.% of this, with the remainder composed of other dried minerals and salts. The extreme salinity of the Dead Sea is due to rapid evaporation and the absence of an outlet, leading to a high concentration of minerals such as magnesium, sodium, and potassium. These minerals are continuously deposited as water evaporates, making the Dead Sea one of the saltiest bodies of water on Earth. The concentrations of the major ions present in the Dead Sea water are given in the following table:

The chemical composition of the crystallized Dead Sea salts does not necessarily correspond to the results presented in this table because of composition changes due to the process of fractional crystallization.

The main detritic minerals present in the Dead Sea mud were carried by runoff streams flowing into the Dead Sea. They constituted large mud deposits intermixed with salt layers during the Holocene era.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dead Sea salt” as salt extracted from the Dead Sea. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current 239-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Dead, salt and extracted can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as salt extracted from the Dead Sea. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q955309. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Dead Sea salt”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Dead Sea salt primary sources, Dead Sea salt archive and Dead research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dead Sea salt”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Dead Sea salt” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.