Dasht-e Kavir ( in classical Persian, from ''khwar'' (low), and ''dasht'' (plain, flatland)) or the Kavir Desert, also known as Kavir-e Namak or the Great Salt Desert, is a large desert lying in the middle of the

Iranian Plateau The Iranian plateau or Persian plateau is a geological feature spanning parts of the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. It makes up part of the Eurasian plate, and is wedged between the Arabian plate and the Indian plate. ...

. It is about long by wide with a total surface area of about , making it the world's 24th largest desert. The desert stretches from the Alborz mountain range in the north-west to the Dasht-e Lut in the south-east. It is spread across the Iranian provinces of Khorasan, Semnan,

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

and Yazd.

Features

In the center of the desert lies the salt marshes of Kavir Buzurg (Great Kavir), which is about long and wide. In the western part of the desert lies the Daryahcheh-e Namak ("salt lake"), . It contains some large salt plates in a mosaic-like shape. It is part of a protected ecological zone, the Kavir National Park.

Climate and structure

Dasht-e Kavir has an arid climate with little precipitation. However, there is usually some rainfall in winter, as well as the mountains that surround it, provide plenty of runoff—enough to create vast seasonal lakes, marshlands and playas. Daytime and nighttime temperatures can vary by as much as over the course of a year. The weather can get quite cold during the nighttime in winter, routinely dropping to below in some areas. The desert soil is covered with sand and pebbles; there are

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

es, seasonal

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s and seasonal river beds. The high temperatures and low humidity cause extreme vaporization, which leaves the marshes and mud grounds with large crusts of salt.

Post-glacial lake system

Almost 3,000 years ago, at the start of the post-glacial era, the Kavir was a series of vast lakes.

Wildlife

Vegetation in the Dasht-e Kavir is adapted to the hot and arid climate as well as to the saline soil in which it is rooted. Persian gazelles live in parts of steppe and desert areas of the central plateau. Wild sheep (''Ovis orientalis''),

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

wild goat The wild goat (''Capra aegagrus'') is a wild goat species, inhabiting forests, shrublands and rocky areas ranging from Turkey and the Caucasus in the west to Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east. It has been listed as near threaten ...

s (''Capra aegagrus'')Mohammadian, H. Mammals of Iran. Shabpareh Publishing Institute. Tehran, Iran. 2005.. and Persian leopards are common in mountainous areas. Night life brings on wild cats,

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

, foxes, and other

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...

Cultivation

The extreme heat and many storms in Dasht-e Kavir cause extensive erosion, which makes it almost impossible to cultivate the lands. The desert is almost uninhabited and knows little exploitation.

References