Mount Sodom ( he, הר סדום, ''Har Sedom'') is a hill along the southwestern part of the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

; it is part of the Judaean Desert Nature Reserve. It takes its name from the legendary city of

Sodom Sodom may refer to: Places Historic * Sodom and Gomorrah, cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis United States * Sodom, Kentucky, a ghost town * Sodom, New York, a hamlet * Sodom, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Sodom, West Virginia, an ...

, whose destruction is the subject of a narrative in the Bible.

History

Mount Sodom began its rise hundreds of thousands of years ago and continues to grow taller at a rate of a year. Movements of the Great Rift Valley system, along with the pressure generated by the slow accumulation of earth and rock, pressed down on the layers of salt, creating Mount Sodom. It is about 80% salt, high, capped by a layer of limestone, clay and conglomerate that was dragged along as it was squeezed up from the valley floor. It is approximately long, wide, and above the Dead Sea water level, yet below world mean

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. Because of weathering, some portions have separated. One of these pillars is known as " Lot's wife", in reference to the Biblical account of the destruction of

Sodom and Gomorrah Sodom and Gomorrah () were two legendary biblical cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Their story parallels the Genesis flood narrative in its theme of God's anger provoked by man's sin (see Genesis 19:1–28). They are mentioned frequ ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sodom Hebrew Bible mountains Hills of Israel Dead Sea Sodom and Gomorrah Judaean Desert

History

See also

References