Lisan Peninsula

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The Lisan Peninsula has expanded until it now completely severs the Dead Sea into two parts.
The Lisan Peninsula has expanded until it now completely severs the Dead Sea into two parts.

The Lisan Peninsula is a large spit of land which now separates the North and the South basins of the Dead Sea. Its name is Arabic for "tongue." The peninsula, located entirely within Jordanian territory, separates the northern section of the Dead Sea from its shallow southern part. The northern tip is sometimes labelled as Cape Costigan, in memory of Christopher Costigan, an Irish explorer who perished in 1835 from heat and thirst after being stranded on the sea for days. He took the first known boat ride on the sea in modern times.

Similarly to the nearby Mount Sodom (Jebel Usdum), the peninsula is largely made up of white calcareous sediment containing beds of salt and gypsum, rising to 600 feet on its eastern side.