Aerial views of Salt Domes of the Dasht-e Kavir. Salt Domes are formed by an upwelling of salt from ancient lake deposits that rise because salt is less dense than overlying sediments. Over geologic time, the salt rises in plumes, like in a lava lamp, but as it does so, it ruptures and drags overlying sediments. In the Dasht-e Kavir, the overlying sediments are varying layers of red and white rock, which the dome-building has stretched into strange wavy patterns, like those found in the cross-cut of an old tree. These are probably the best examples of Salt Domes in the world.
It wasn’t easy to access this area as the land was virgin terrain without a single car track. The seemingly hard surface is a dry lakebed, and only a few inches below its surface is a soft grease-like mud the Iranians call “charbeh,” which is extremely difficult to get out of. If we had been stuck out here it most likely would have resulted in our death, as there was no water and we were about 70 km from the nearest road or outpost. No one lives here as the soil is largely sterile. It was beautiful from the air but also quite dangerous, as we had strong winds and the ground was convoluted and hard as bricks. It was a strange and beautiful place that we only left as we ran out of water and winter storm clouds threatened rain, which would have turned the terrain into an impassable quagmire.
- Filename
- STNMTZ_20031101_04G.tif
- Copyright
- ©2011 George Steinmetz
- Image Size
- 7244x4824 / 100.0MB
- georgesteinmetz.com
- Contained in galleries
- Salt Deserts of Iran
