Lut Desert

Iran, Lut Desert – Dasht-E Lut, Iran

Deserts are a prominent type of geographical formations on the earth. Located in the South-east of Iran, Lut Desert is an exemplar of this geographical feature involving a variety of desert landforms in a comparatively small area. Kaluts or yardang that are massive corrugated ridges are the most touristic attraction of the west of Lut Desert and in the east of the desert ergs and varied huge dunes prevail.

Gandom Beryan is a vast plateau of the Lut Desert covered in dark lava that according to NASA often records the highest earth temperature of around 70°C. Gandom Beryan meaning toasted wheat in Farsi probably gained its name when a load of wheat left in the region was scorched by heat after few days.

Mighty wind between June and October creates massive and awe-inspiring Kaluts. Kaluts of Shahdad are so stunning that resemble an imaginary city from a perspective outlook. Sunset and dawn offer a breathtaking view of these of natural castles of shimmering golden sands. The Kaluts of the Lut Desert reach to 155 meters high and are amongst the highest yardangs on the earth.

Lut Desert is also well-known for its active and moving dunes that at some point soar to 500 meters. Lut houses various forms of dunes such as linear-shaped, crescentic-shaped, star-shaped, and funnel-shaped dunes beside nebkas with the shield of plants. Similar to its yardangs, dunes, and nebkas of the Lut are of the highest of their kind on the earth.

The Desert also contains a wide variety of salt landforms such as playa or salt pans with polygonal fractured crusts, white crystalline riverbeds, gypsum domes, tepee fractured salt crusts, salt karren, and small salt blisters. Alongside salty features, there are some other desert landforms in Lut including hamada that is a type of stony desert pavement, bajada or alluvial fans, and gullied badlands. Besides, despite the low precipitation rate and harsh weather conditions, resistant flora and fauna live in this arid desert.