Dead Sea on the Israeli side allows production of magnesium metal (by a subsidiary, Dead Sea Magnesium Ltd.). Due to the popularity of the sea's therapeutic and healing properties, several companies have also shown interest in the manufacturing and supplying of Dead Sea salts as raw materials for body and skin care products. Since 1930, when its surface was and its level was below sea level, the Dead Sea has been monitored continuously. In recent decades, the Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north. The southern end is fed by
Dead Sea in the northern part of the Dead Sea and barely in the southern part. The Dead Sea zone's aridity is due to the rainshadow effect of the Judaean Mountains. The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself. To the west of the Dead Sea, the Judaean mountains rise less steeply and are much lower than the mountains to the east. Along the southwestern side of the lake is a tall halite formation called "Mount Sodom". There are two contending hypotheses about the origin of the low elevation of the Dead Sea. The older