Deserts in Iran **

Dasht-e-Kavir Desert, Iran **

General**
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, Dasht-e-Kavir and Kavir-e-Lut. They are both some of the most arid and maybe hottest areas of their kinds in the world. 

The Desert Pits**
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.

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.

Kavir-e-Lut Desert, Iran **