Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Natural Environments
LAND OF MOUNTAINS & DESERTS
If you're flying into Iran, be sure to ask for a window seat - you might be surprised by
what you see. Rather than the featureless desert wasteland many perceive, Iran is a diverse
land where snow-capped mountains border vast desert plateaus and cliffside villages con-
trast with palm-filled oases.
More than half of Iran is covered by moun-
tains, with four ranges most prominent. The
smaller, volcanic Sabalan and Talesh Ranges in
the northwestern Azeri provinces provide fertile
pastures for nomads. Nearby, the majestic Al-
borz Mountains skirt the Caspian Sea from the
border of Azerbaijan as far as Turkmenistan,
and are home to ski fields and the snow-capped
Mt Damavand (5671m;
Click here
), the Middle
East's tallest mountain. The northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains are densely forested
to about 2500m and form the largest area of vegetation in the country. The forests will look
familiar to Europeans (oak, ash, pine, poplar, willow, walnut, maple and elm), and the love-
liest pockets are around Masuleh (
Click here
)
, in the Golestan National Park east of Minu-
dasht (
Click here
)
, and, more accessibly, at Nahar Khoran (
Click here
)
, just south of Gor-
gan.
Sitting on the world's second-largest known reserve of natural gas, the immense Zagros
Mountains stretch about 1500km from Turkey to the Persian Gulf, rising and falling like
the ridged back of a great crocodile. There are several peaks reaching more than 4000m,
though heights fall to an average of 1500m in the south.
All these mountains exist because Iran sits at the junction of
three major tectonic plates - the Arabian, Eurasian and Indian -
making the country highly susceptible to earthquakes.
East of the Zagros Mountains is the central plateau and its
two vast deserts, the Dasht-e Kavir (more than 200,000 sq km)
in the north and the Dasht-e Lut (more than 166,000 sq km) in
the southeast, accounting for almost 25% of the country. The
deserts include occasional salt lakes and are dotted with luxuriant oases - a welcome sight
With an area of 1,648,000 sq km, Iran is more than
three times larger than France; nearly one-fifth the
size of the USA; and almost as big as Queensland,
Australia. Iran shares borders with seven countries:
Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan,
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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Landscapes
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The Kaluts
N 30° 38'
34.63”, E 58° 0' 58.48”
