- Geography of the Great Salt Desert
- Features of the relief of Deshte-Kevira
- Characteristic features of the relief
- Deshte-Kevir and human activity
The names that people give to geographical objects can sometimes tell a lot even to the uninitiated. For example, the Great Salt Desert, located in the Middle East, is characterized by the presence of saline soils, which, in principle, has already been said by the toponym. Another thing is that the second name of this desert region, Deshte-Kevir, will not say anything to a person who does not know Arabic, but it sounds very beautiful.
The translation of the toponym "Deshte-Kevir" is quite simple, as they say about the "Desert of salt marshes". There are also several other local names for this geographical feature, such as "Salt of salt marshes".
Geography of the Great Salt Desert
An analysis of the geographical map of the world makes it possible to find out that the desert is located in the territories of the Iranian Highlands, more precisely, in its northern part. If you combine the geographical and political maps of the world, you can see that the area belongs to Iran.
The desert resembles a wide strip, its length is approximately 800 kilometers, its width varies, at its widest point it reaches 350 kilometers.
Geographic objects surrounding the desert have a strong influence on the climatic conditions of the Great Salt Desert, on the formation of weather in this corner of the globe. The rainy season comes in the spring, it lasts for an extremely short period, but during this time, desert areas turn into lakes full of liquid mud, which can cause death of people and livestock. Therefore, the locals believe that evil demons live in these places. In ancient times, caravans tried to bypass the desert.
Features of the relief of Deshte-Kevira
The terrain is extremely heterogeneous, sometimes there is even doubt as to why these territories received the definition of "desert". Geologists talk about the presence of a large number of closed-drainage depressions in this region. Their height varies from 600 to 800 meters. These depressions are occupied by takyrs, crustal salt marshes.
In the peripheral areas of the Great Salt Desert, you can see the so-called "kevirs" - salt swamps that dry up when hot dry weather sets in. Also, on the outskirts of Deshte-Kevir, the presence of lakes and next to them large massifs of sands was noted.
Characteristic features of the relief
For the Great Salt Desert, takyrs and salt marshes have become the most characteristic landforms. The word "takyr" itself has a Turkic origin, it can be translated as flat, naked.
Such a relief is formed in deserts during the drying up of soils characterized by a high level of salt concentration. After the soil dries out, so-called desiccation cracks form in its upper layer. From a distance, they resemble a beautiful pattern walking on clay soil.
In the dry season, such a pattern withstands the load well from above, so you can even ride on takyrs in cars. Unfortunately, after precipitation falls, the upper layer becomes soaked, and it becomes impossible to move on it.
The second type of soil, characteristic of the Great Salt Desert, is salt marshes. Again, it is due to the fact that readily soluble salts accumulate in the upper layers of the soil. Moreover, the concentration of salt is such that only rare plants are able to survive in salt marshes.
Of the rare "daredevils" who survive in such harsh conditions, in Deshte-Kevir you can find halophytes, lovers of salt soils, including saltwort, hodgepodge, ajerek and other plants. The peculiarity is that even they cannot form a closed vegetation cover. It is because of this composition of soils and the associated vegetation cover that the Great Salt Desert, located on the Iranian Highlands, is called one of the most lifeless on earth.
Deshte-Kevir and human activity
Important note - The Great Salt Desert, located at a distance from cities, towns and other settlements, gave shelter to Semnan, the famous Iranian cosmodrome and training ground.
The cosmodrome got its name from the city of the same name, the only one located nearby. Since this Iranian cosmodrome has an installation for missiles, it is guaranteed the close attention of the military from all over the world and, above all, the United States and the Russian Federation. The powerful are trying to control the tests of Iranian light-class missiles.
In turn, the Iranian authorities are trying to enter the independent development of endless space, and therefore regularly launch rockets from the Semnan cosmodrome. The first successful space launch took place in February 2009. Then the Omid satellite was launched into orbit, for this the Iranians used the Safir launch vehicle.
