Lut the Amazing Desert

Iran is situated in a high-altitude plateau surrounded by connected ranges of mountains. the well-known deserts of iran are at two major regions: 1) dasht-e-kavir, and 2) kavir-e-lut. they are both some of the most arid and maybe hottest areas of their kinds in the world.

kavir-e-lut is the largest pit inside the iranian plateau and probably one of the largest ones in the world. kavir-e-lut is a pit formed by broken layers of the earth.

the maximum annual rainfall is approximately 100 mm there. the average altitude of this desert is almost 600 m above sea level (asl) and the lowest point near “khabis”‌ is almost 300m asl. in kavir-e-lut, large amount of sand is always moving southward forming sand hills and running sand masses.

dasht-e-kavir is a geological pit almost at the north of kavir-e-lut. the minimum altitude of this desert is 400 m asl. the major part of dasht-e-kavir is covered by sand and pebbles and exposed to strong winds and storms that set salt-combined sand in motion like sea waves. at times, this phenomenon forms long sand hills of 40m high.

from structural point of view, dasht-e-kavir is very much different form kavir-e-lut. the difference of temperature between days and nights during a year in dasht-e-kavir is between 0 and 70 degrees c.