List of places on land with elevations below sea level
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This is a list of places below mean sea level that are on land.
Places in tunnels, mines, basements, dug holes (also with open sky), under water, under ice, or existing temporarily as a result of ebbing of sea tide etc. are not included. Places where seawater and rainwater is pumped away are included. Fully natural places below sea level require a dry climate, otherwise rain would exceed evaporation and fill the area.
All figures are in meters below sea level, arranged by depth, lowest first:
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Contents
Africa
- Afar Depression
- Lake Assal, Djibouti, [−153 m (−502 ft)] lowest land in Africa
- Danakil Depression, Ethiopia, [−125 m (−410 ft)]
- Qattara Depression, Egypt, [−133 m (−436 ft)]
- Sebkha Tah, Western Sahara, in the Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra region [−55 m (−180 ft)]
- Sabkhat Ghuzayyil, Libya [−47 m (−154 ft)]
- Chott Melrhir, Algeria, [−40 m (−131 ft)]
- Shatt al Gharsah, Tunisia, [−17 m (−56 ft)]
- Sebkhet Te-n-Dghamcha, Mauritania, [−5 m (−16 ft)]
Asia
- Jordan valley, Israel - West Bank - Jordan
- Turfan Depression, China [−154 m (−505 ft)]
- Caspian Basin
- Caspian Depression, Karagiye, Kazakhstan [−138 m (−453 ft)]
- Caspian Sea and its shores, Russia - Kazakhstan - Azerbaijan - Iran - Turkmenistan [−28 m (−92 ft)]
- Hachirogata, Japan [−4 m (−13 ft)]
Oceania
- Lake Eyre, Australia, −16 m (−52 ft), lowest land in Australia
- Lake Frome, Australia, −6 m (−20 ft)
- Lake Blanche, Australia, ?
- Taieri Plain, New Zealand, −2 m (−7 ft)
Europe
- Caspian basin
- Caspian Sea and its shores, Russia and Kazakhstan [−28 m (−92 ft)]
- Atyrau Airport, Kazakhstan [−22 m (−72 ft)] - lowest international airport
- Netherlands, coastal provinces [(−1 to −7 m) (−3 to −23 ft)]
- Zuidplaspolder [−7 m (−23 ft)]
- Haarlemmermeer [−5 m (−16 ft)]
- Amsterdam Schiphol Airport [−4 m (−13 ft)]
- Wieringermeer [−4 m (−13 ft)]
- Flevoland [−4 m (−13 ft)]
- Lammefjord, Denmark [−7 m (−23 ft)]
- The Fens, United Kingdom [−2.75 m (−9 ft)]
- Neuendorf-Sachsenbande, Germany [−4 m (−13 ft)]
- Le Contane, Jolanda di Savoia, Italy [−3.44 m (−11.3 ft)]
- North Slob, County Wexford, Ireland [−3 m (−10 ft)]
- Camargue, France [−2 m (−7 ft)]
- Kristianstad, Sweden [−2 m (−7 ft)]
- Żuławy Wiślane, Poland, Baltic delta of the Vistula River [−2 m (−7 ft)]
North America
- Death Valley
- Badwater Basin, California, USA [−85 m (−279 ft)] lowest point in North America
- Salton Sink, USA [−66 m (−217 ft)]
- Bombay Beach, California, USA [−69 m (−226 ft)]
- Salton Sea Beach, California, USA [−67 m (−220 ft)]
- Desert Shores, California, USA [−61 m (−200 ft)]
- Calipatria, California, USA [−56 m (−184 ft)]
- Westmorland, California, USA [−48 m (−157 ft)]
- Niland, California, USA [−43 m (−141 ft)]
- Salton City, California, USA [−38 m (−125 ft)]
- Brawley, California, USA [−37 m (−121 ft)]
- Thermal, California, USA [−37 m (−121 ft)]
- Coachella, California, USA [−22 m (−72 ft)]
- Imperial, California, USA [−18 m (−59 ft)]
- Seeley, California, USA [−13 m (−43 ft)]
- El Centro, California, USA [−12 m (−39 ft)]
- Indio, California, USA [−6 m (−20 ft)]
- Heber, California, USA [−5 m (−16 ft)]
- Holtville, California, USA [−3 m (−10 ft)]
- New Orleans, Louisiana, USA [−2 m (−7 ft)]
- Laguna Salada, Baja California, Mexico [−10 m (−33 ft)]
- Lago Enriquillo, Dominican Republic [−46 m (−151 ft)], lowest place on an ocean island.
South America
- Laguna del Carbón, Argentina [−105 m (−344 ft)] lowest land in the Americas
- Bajo del Gualicho, Río Negro province, Argentina [−72 m (−236 ft)]
- Salina Grande and Salina Chica, Península Valdés, Chubut Province, Argentina [−42 m (−138 ft)]
- Laguna La Niña, Sechura Desert, Piura Region, Peru [−34 m (−112 ft)]
- Georgetown, Guyana [−2 m (−7 ft)]
Antarctica
- Deep Lake, Vestfold Hills, [−50 m (−164 ft)]
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Historic and ice-covered areas
Deeper and larger than any of the trenches in the list above is the Bentley Subglacial Trench in Antarctica, at a depth of 2,540 m (8,330 ft). It is subglacial, meaning that it is permanently covered by the largest ice cap in the world. Therefore, it is not included in any list on the page. If the ice melted it would be covered by sea.
The biggest dry land area below sea level that has been known to exist in the geological past, as measured by continuous volume of atmospheric air below sea level, was the dry bed of the Mediterranean Sea in the late Miocene period during the Messinian salinity crisis.
