Sea Of Galilee | Lake, Israel - Britannica

Physical features

The lake has a surface area of 64 square miles (166 square km). Its maximum depth, measured in the northeast, is 157 feet (48 metres). Extending 13 miles (21 km) from north to south and 7 miles (11 km) from east to west, it is pear-shaped. Its surface elevation was long given as 686 feet (209 metres) below sea level, but for decades the annual water level generally has been 6.5 to 13 feet (2 to 4 metres) below the traditional level.

The Sea of Galilee is located in the great depression of the Jordan. The Plain of Gennesaret extends in a circular arc from the north to the northwest, and the Plain of Bet Ẓayda (Buteiha) in Syria extends to the northeast. To the west and southwest, the hills of Lower Galilee fall abruptly to the lake’s edge. In the mid-eastern sections, the cliffs of the Golan Heights overlook the lake. The plateau reappears again in the southeast, becoming larger as it approaches the valley of the Yarmūk River, a tributary that has its confluence with the Jordan a short distance to the south of the lake. Also to the south, the plain of the Ghawr (Ghor) begins, but the Sea of Galilee is separated from it by a narrow ridge through which the Jordan River flows.

Britannica Quiz Water and its Varying Forms

The greatest part of the region is covered by basalts that have been formed since the Miocene Epoch (about 23 to 5.3 million years ago) and that are part of the vast area of Mount Durūz, located in Syria. Since the Miocene Epoch began, lacustrine limestones and marls (calcareous clays) have been deposited. The Jordan Valley is part of the East African Rift System, which forms the deep trench through which a tributary of the Jordan River passes to the east of the lake. Smaller and less-important faults occur to the west. The depression was hollowed out at the end of the Pliocene Epoch (about 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago) and was partially filled in again by lacustrine and fluvial sediments. During the humid periods of the Quaternary Period (the past 2.6 million years), the Dead Sea extended up to this point. During the last pluvial period, about 20,000 years ago, a great lake called the Lake of Lisan covered the region. Since then the waters have receded.

Because of its sheltered location, low elevation, and the influence of the lake itself, the winters are mild, with temperatures averaging 57 °F (14 °C) in January. The absence of freezing temperatures has facilitated the cultivation of bananas, dates, citrus fruit, and vegetables. The summers are hot, with temperatures averaging 88 °F (31 °C), and the precipitation—almost 15 inches (380 mm) at Deganya—falls, in the course of a winter of less than 50 days, in the form of brief but violent showers.

The Sea of Galilee is fed primarily by the Jordan River. Other streams and wadis (seasonal watercourses) flow into the lake from the hills of Galilee. In the rivers associated with the lake and at the bottom of the lake itself are many mineral deposits. Because of those deposits and because of the strong evaporation, the lake’s waters are relatively salty.

The fish life of the Sea of Galilee has an affinity with that of the East African lakes. Fish species to be found include damselfish, scaleless blennies, catfish, mouthbreeders, and barbels.

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