Dasht-e Lut

Dasht-e Lut, also spelled Dasht-i-Lut, is a large salt desert in southeastern Iran and is the world's 25th largest desert.

Iran is climatically part of the Afro-Asian belt of deserts that stretch from the Cape Verde islands off West Africa all the way to Mongolia near Beijing, China. The patchy, elongated, light-colored feature in the foreground (parallel to the mountain range) is the northernmost of the Dasht dry lakes that stretch southward 300 kilometers (190 mi). In near-tropical deserts, elevated areas capture most precipitation. As a result an abiotic zone.

Iran's geography consists of a plateau surrounded by mountains and divided into drainage basins. Dasht-e Lut is one of the largest of these desert basins, 480 kilometers (300 mi) long and 320 kilometers (200 mi) wide,[1] and is considered to be one of the driest places on Earth.[2][3][4]

Area of the desert is about 51,800 square kilometers (20,000 mi²).[5] The other large basin is the Dasht-e Kavir. During the spring wet season, water briefly flows down from the Kerman mountains, but it soon dries up, leaving behind only rocks, sand, and salt.

The eastern part of Dasht-e Lut is a low plateau covered with salt flats. In contrast, the center has been sculpted by the wind into a series of parallel ridges and furrows, extending over 150 km (93 mi) and reaching 75 m (250 ft) in height.[1] This area is also riddled with ravines and sinkholes. The southeast is a vast expanse of sand, like a Saharan erg, with dunes 300 m (1000 ft) high, among the tallest in the world.[1]

Contents

Hottest land surface

Measurements of MODIS (Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) installed on NASA's satellite "Aqua" from 2003 - 2005 testify that the hottest land surface on Earth is located in Dasht-e Lut and land surface temperatures reach here 70.7 degrees C (159 degrees F)[6][7][8][9][2][3][4]. Precision of measurements is 0.5 - 1 degrees K[10][11].

The hottest part of Dasht-e Lut is Gandom Beryan - approximately 480 km² large plateau covered with dark lava[12]. According to local legend this name (in translation from Persian - "Toasted wheat") originates from an accident where load of wheat left in the desert was scorched by the heat in a few days time[13].

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c editors, Richard L. Scheffel, Susan J. Wernert ; writers, Oliver E. Allen ... et al. (1980). Natural Wonders of the World. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-89577-087-5. 
  2. ^ a b http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1102/p16s01-sten.html
  3. ^ a b http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/earth/temperature-of-earth/
  4. ^ a b http://www.redorbit.com/images/images-of-the-day/img/13205/hottest_spot_on_earth/index.html
  5. ^ Wright, John W. (ed.) (2006). The New York Times Almanac (2007 ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books. p. 456. ISBN 978-0-14-303820-7. 
  6. ^ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=7149
  7. ^ http://www.weather.ir/english/
  8. ^ http://www.climatetemp.info/iran/
  9. ^ http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=58252&sectionid=351020108
  10. ^ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/dataprod/dataproducts.php?MOD_NUMBER=11 MOD 11 - Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity, MODIS Website
  11. ^ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/atbd/atbd_mod11.pdf Zhengming Wan, MODIS Land-Surface Temperature Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (LST ATBD) Version 3.3. April 1999
  12. ^ http://www.iranreview.org/content/view/1067/51/ A Journey To Earth's Hottest Point
  13. ^ Gandom Beryan in Lut Desert - hottest place on Earth. Wondermondo. 1 November 2010. http://www.wondermondo.com/Countries/As/Iran/Kerman/GandomBeryan.htm 

External links