Dasht-e Lut
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The Lut Desert, widely referred to as Dasht-e Lut (Template:Langx Template:Gloss), is a salt desertTemplate:Definition needed located in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan, Iran. It is the world's 33rd-largest desert, and was included in UNESCO's World Heritage List on July 17, 2016.[1]
The name is derived from Template:Translit which means Template:Gloss in Persian[2][3][4] and Template:Translit which means Template:Gloss in Persian.[5][6]
The surface of its sand has been measured at temperatures as high as Script error: No such module "convert"., the highest-known land surface temperature.[7][8]
Description
Iran is climatically part of the Afro-Asian belt of deserts, which stretches from Mauritania all the way to Mongolia.
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 drainage basins, Script error: No such module "convert". long and Script error: No such module "convert". wide.[9]
The area of the desert is about Script error: No such module "convert".,[10] the largest in Iran after 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 with lowest elevations around 110 m above sea level (30.398609 N, 58.493041 E). In contrast, the center has been sculpted by the wind into a series of parallel ridges and furrows, extending over Script error: No such module "convert". and reaching Script error: No such module "convert". in height.[9] This area is also riddled with ravines and sinkholes. The southeast is a vast expanse of sand, like a Saharan erg, with dunes Script error: No such module "convert". high, among the tallest in the world.[9]
Geology
According to one study, more than half of the desert's surface is covered by volcanic rocks. Evaporites can be observed during hot periods.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Archaeology
Around 2500 BC, a flourishing civilization existed in this area. The ancient city of Shahdad was located on the western edge of the Lut desert. And on the eastern side, there was a large, 200 ha (490 acres), ancient city today called Shahr-e Sukhteh or Burnt City, on the former, now dry, Helmand River.[11]
The Lut area is an important region for Iranian archaeology. Recently, an extensive archaeological survey was conducted on the eastern flank of Kerman range and close to the western fringes of Lut Desert. As a result, eighty-seven ancient sites dating from the fifth millennium BC to the late Islamic era were identified. Twenty-three of these sites are assigned to the Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age.[12]
Climate
The hottest land surface on Earth recorded by the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer installed on NASA's Aqua satellite from 2003 to 2010 was in Dasht-e Lut, with land surface temperatures reaching Script error: No such module "convert". in 2005,[8][13] although the air temperature at that time could have be anywhere from Script error: No such module "convert"..[8] The precision of these measurements was between 0.5 K and 1 K.[14][15] In 2019, authors reported a land surface temperature of Script error: No such module "convert"., based on newer MODIS data.[16]
As of 2020, there are no permanent weather stations in Dasht-e Lut, which makes the exact climate uncertain. Based on neighboring stations, Dasht-e Lut likely receives less than Script error: No such module "convert". of precipitation a year.[16] In comparison, the Atacama Desert receives an average of Template:Cvt of precipitation per year,[17] with some areas receiving as little as Template:Cvt a year.[18]
See also
Further reading
- Sykes, Percy. A History of Persia. Macmillan and Company: London (1921). pp. 60–62.
References
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External links
- "Hottest Place on Earth" spoken article
- NASA image and info
- NASA survey on temperatures around the globe
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