carmit: yeah, like a sponge. eric: geologist carmit ish shalom lived here for a decade, studying a mysterious phenomenon: sinkholes. eric: this area is the first area where the sinkholes caused a big problem? carmit: yeah, here, near the beach. that was the first sinkholes that we found. eric: this former holiday park was abandoned when sections of it started disappearing into the ground. carmit: at the end of the '80s, they found here the first sinkhole, and the resort was just closed immediately. eric: and how do you feel when you see this? carmit: it's really scary to think that children could run here on top of nothing. and that was also the main income source of en gedi, which they can't use anymore. eric: as the dead sea continues to shrink, carmit ish shalom knows more and more sinkholes will come. eric: when the salty water of the dead sea recedes, it lees a thick underground layer of salt. winter floods rush down from the mountains. the fresh water saturates and dissolves that salt, and huge underground