#dasht-e kavir

[mostly-history]

Dasht-e Kavir (Iran, October 2000).

Also known as the Great Salt Desert, the Dasht-e Kavir is the largest desert in Iran.  It is mostly uninhabited wasteland, made up of mud and salt marshes covered with salt crusts that protect the meagre moisture from completely evaporating.

[earthstory]

The Dasht-e Kevir

One does not typically think of deserts in aesthetically pleasing notions. Yet this image of the Great Salt Desert in Iran, which was captured by astronauts on the International Space Station, makes a barren wasteland look like an abstract painting, with lines and curves intersecting and bisecting each other in seemingly fractal patterns.

Also known as Dasht-e Kavir (literally translated from Persian as “desert of salt-marsh”), this vast desert stretches across the Iranian Plateau with an area of about 77,600 km2. As hinted by its name, Dasht-e Kavir has a wealth of salt domes, which were formed from evaporation of an ancient ocean that had once covered the landscape. Because salt is relatively less dense than most rocks, its burial by any new rock can be short-lived as the salt can press against the overlying weight, forming domes. Wind, rain, and other physical processes can erode away at the salt domes, cutting away through cross-sections and exposing the complex layering visible in the image.

Of course, like any desert, its climate is one of extremes. The dry heat of Dasht-e Kavir often alternates with severe storms that shape the desert’s salt marshes through intense cycles of evaporation, inundation, and erosion. Much of the landscape is uninhabitable due to the harsh environment, making it a pristine hinterland perfect for desert and salt dome research.

-DC

References and further reading https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/83438/kavir-desert-iran https://www.universetoday.com/110872/believe-it-or-not-this-is-stunning-blue-landscape-is-a-desert-as-seen-from-space/amp/

Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

[mojtabatrkian]

Of Moon and Sun

[fishstickmonkey]

(via Dust in the Dasht-e Kavir : Image of the Day)

[architecturefiles]

There is a way to master silence, control its curves, inhabit its dark corners, and listen to the hiss of time outside.

Paul Bowles on the Dasht-e Kavir

[mostly-history]

Dasht-e Kavir, or the Great Salt Desert, in central Iran, taken from the International Space Station.  Because of the lack of soil & vegetation, the geological structure of the rocks is very clear.

[sitting-on-me-bum]

DASHT-E KAVIR, IRAN

The moon illuminates colorful salt domes in Dasht-e Kavir, Iran.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BABAK TAFRESHI, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE

[octopusgirl]

The swirling landscape of Iran’s salt desert, Dasht-e Kavir. These areas are salt lakes and the colours show fluctuations in the amount of water present over time.