The Dead Sea is famous for being lifeless, but it may need to be renamed, because scientists have found giant craters at the bottom spewing bacteria-laden fresh water.
The lake, which lies on the border of Jordan and Israel, owes its barrenness to dense salt levels, which also means it's possible to float on the surface. For this reason it's a popular tourist attraction.
The presence of seabed craters there has been long been suspected, as mysterious ripples have been spotted on the surface in the past. Now divers have confirmed that there are in fact 30 of them lying at depths of around 100-feet on the seabed.
They were first discovered in 2010 by a diving expedition from the Max Planck Institute in Germany, which measured the craters at between 33 feet and 43 feet wide.
Team member Danny Ionescu told National Geographic News that they were a "fantastic hot spot for life".
The Dead Sea is extremely murky, with the divers needing to feel for drops on the seafloor to locate the craters.
Mr Ionescu added: "When you put your head in a crater you cannot see anything - you have to have faith and will to explore."
He reported very powerful plumes of clear water rising upwards, with the craters containing the same diversity of microscopic life that can be found on rocks in normal sea conditions.
What has intrigued the expedition further is that the bacteria can thrivedespite huge variations in salt levels as the water moves around the seabed.


据英国《每日邮报》9月29日报道，死海一向以没有生命迹象而闻名，但现在它恐怕要重新命名了，因为科学家们在死海底部发现了巨大的火山口，从中喷涌出富含细菌的新鲜淡水。
死海位于约旦和以色列的边境线上，其高密度的含盐量，使得人们可以轻松漂浮在水面。因此死海成为了著名的旅游胜地。


有关死海海底存在火山口的猜测由来已久，因为过去人们常能在水面发现一些神秘的涟漪。如今，潜水者们已经证实，在海底大约一百英尺深的地方实际存在着三十个火山口。

火山口第一次被发现是在2010年，来自德国马克斯普朗克研究所的一支潜水探险队探测到了大约三十三到四十三英尺宽的火山口。

探险队成员丹尼·约内斯库告诉国家地理新闻的记者，这些火山口是"如梦幻般的生命活跃点"。

死海非常的阴暗，潜水者需要感受海底的落差来定位火山口的所在。
约内斯库先生补充道："当你把你的头伸进火山口时，你什么也看不见--你必须有足够的信念和意志继续进行探索。"
他还说，有力量非常强大的羽状水流向上盘升，火山口中蕴藏着的微生物种类繁多，与在寻常海域岩石中发现的一样。

激起探索队进一步兴趣的是，这些水流在海底流动时，其中的细菌即使在含盐量如此高的情况下，也能够生机勃勃。

• mysterious [mi´stiəriəs] a.神秘的；难以理解的 (初中英语单词)
• expedition [,ekspi´diʃən] n.远征；探险；迅速 (初中英语单词)
• institute [´institju:t] n.学院 vt.建立；设置 (初中英语单词)
• extremely [ik´stri:mli] ad.极端地；非常地 (初中英语单词)
• normal [´nɔ:məl] a.正规的 n.正常状态 (初中英语单词)
• despite [di´spait] prep.尽管 (初中英语单词)
• israel [´izreiəl] n.以色列 (高中英语单词)
• tourist [´tuərist] n.游客，观光者 (高中英语单词)
• thrive [θraiv] vi.兴旺；繁荣 (高中英语单词)
• lifeless [´laifləs] a.无生命的，无生气的 (英语四级单词)
• jordan [´dʒɔ:dn] n.约旦 (英语四级单词)
• upwards [´ʌpwədz] ad.=upward (英语四级单词)
• bacteria [bæk´tiəriə] n.细菌 (英语四级单词)
• divers [´daivə(:)z] a.&pron.若干个 (英语六级单词)
• crater [´kreitə] n.火山口；弹坑 (英语六级单词)
• diversity [dai´və:siti] n.差异；多样性 (英语六级单词)
• microscopic [,maikrə´skɔpik] a.(象)显微镜的 (英语六级单词)