Discovered for the first time, these vents are an important early warning indicator for sinkholes. These subsidence craters form in the area surrounding the Dead Sea and pose a significant hazard to the population.

The Dead Sea is a highly dynamic system: Its level has been dropping by roughly one meter per year for more than 50 years, because it is cut off from key tributaries and is losing large quantities of water through evaporation as a result of drought and heat. The surface has thus dropped to roughly 438 meters below sea level.

This decline in the lake, which borders Israel, Jordan and the West Bank under Palestinian administration, has significant consequences, especially for the groundwater. The groundwater level is falling, making it increasingly difficult for neighboring countries to access groundwater resources.

For many years, UFZ hydrogeologist Dr. Christian Siebert has been researching how the dynamics of the groundwater system in this region are changing and how aquifers are finding new paths in the rock strata both on land and below the Dead Sea. A team of divers he deployed has now discovered chimney-shaped vents on the lake floor that discharge a shimmering fluid.

"These bear a striking similarity to black smokers in the deep sea, but the system is completely different," says the UFZ researcher. Scientists from the fields of mineralogy, geochemistry, geology, hydrology, remote sensing, microbiology and isotope chemistry from a total of ten research institutions were involved in investigating and analyzing the phenomenon.