Take a ride with us as we have a look at 5 of the lowest continental points on land. It really is amazing…
South America
At 5, check out Laguna del Carbón in the Santa Cruz Province of Argentina which stands at a cool -344 feet. The Laguna del Carbón is an endorheic (that’s right, look it up!)salt lake in the Great San Julián Depression , which at just over 340 ft below sea level is the lowest point of the South American continent which has even been home to the odd dinosaur fossils!
Africa
Number 4 then takes us to Lake Assal in Africa. The crater lake situated in central Djibouti and is currently at 509 feet below sea level. The Afar Depression itself which is home to the Lake, is the second lowest land depression in the world after the Dead Sea. Thanks to its size, it holds a water volume of 400million cubic meters, so the residential run off of fresh water in to the lake is probably a good thing?
Asia
Our middle of the list is of course, the Dead Sea (also known as Salt), known this way as it is a salt lake who’s east side lies in Jordan and west in the West Bank. A huge leap from number 4, this thing is at a whopping -1,385 feet, so no surprises in the fact that it’s the lowest altitude on the globe on dry land, oh and it’s the world’s deepest hyper-saline lake, owing over a third of its water body to salinity. It’s not exactly a social hotspot for animal life as you can imagine due to its harsh environment, so its name isn’t really a surprise either is it?
![Dead_sea_1[1]](http://www.traveltowork.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Dead_sea_11_thumb.jpg)
North America
Second only to our next number 1 spot, Jakobshavn Isbrae at –4,960 feet has aided developed understanding of icecap glaciology and climate change having been studied for over two and a half centuries! It is responsible for approx 10 % of all Greenland icebergs as it trains around 6.5 % of the Greenland ice-sheet, and let me tell you something, aesthetically it is gorgeous. Near 35 billion tones of iceberg calves off and passes through the fjord every year. It worth having a look at some of the stuff that goes on down there folks, the activity is really interesting even for those of you who aren’t that invested?
Antarctica
This all time dropper is probably the most widely known for its area rather than the actual name of the trench! Within the Antarctica there is a gigantic trench known as the Bentley Sub-glacial Trench which is…wait for it…a staggering -8,327 ft. the lowest point on land that is NOT covered by ocean (strictly speaking ice isn’t ocean is it? Subterranean, maybe?).
Should the ice melt however, this fact would have to be rethought some what! The thing is so big it is almost the same size as Mexico. It’s discovery thanks to an expedition of Antarctica led by a geophysicist from 1957-1958 is where it gets its name- Charles Bentley was that geophysicist.
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