Post by asiaticdarkperson on Mar 15, 2012 19:55:34 GMT -5
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Dasht-e_Kavir.jpg
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Iran_topo_en.jpg
The first picture is a satellite photo of the area labelled "Kavir Desert" in the second picture.
I was gonna write up an eyewitness description of this particular desert, to portray its incredible vast emptiness.. But I can't write for some reason. It's like the words just refuse to come. Is this a writer's block?
Anyway, the kavir desert together with the lut desert (second picture, south-east of Iran) are extremely dry lowland plains. The lack of moisture is largely a result of their situation in the rain shadow of the Zagros, and also because of their relatively low elevation.
Except maybe ~1/10 of Iran's land, the rest is entirely desert. There's plenty of mountains all over this desert. Some plateaus (large elevated areas) rise well over 2 kilometers above the central plains. But even at such elevations, the desert persists.
On the western slopes of the Zagros there are still some scattered Oak forests; relics from a different time when the area wasn't so dry. But it seems the oaks have been disappearing due to drought, largely in the past centuries. And in the recent decade their numbers have been decimated even further by an unknown disease.
On the northern slopes of the Alborz range there are vast stretches of continuous temperate rainforests.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ghaleye_Rud_Khan_(40)_4.jpg
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ghaleye_Rud_Khan_(14).JPG
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Golestan.jpg
www.succow-stiftung.de/tl_files/images/PhotoGalerien-Projektseiten/Aserbaidschan/Schutz%20der%20Hyrkanischen%20Waelder/sonnendurchflutet%20-%20flooded%20with%20sunlight.jpg
naturalforest.ir/aksha/hyr/picture2.jpg
These pics should give you a general idea of what it's like. It's really awesome. I've been to the jungles of Gilan and Mazandaran plenty of times (It's a major tourist destination; Next week probably over 5 million people will visit the area from all over Iran) and I think there's really no way any picture could convey the magnificent beauty of this place. There is a species of giant trees called Persian Ironwood, which is endemic to the Hyrcanian forests on the Caspian coast. These guys turn bright yellow, orange and red before their leaves become brown and fall off. It is really a captivating sight in autumn. Once a friend and I found one of these Ironwoods deep in the jungles of Mazandaran; it must have been at least 80 meters tall. We estimated its age at 2000 years.
But then south of the same Alborz mountain range there is only bone dry desert, and as you head further south(east) the dryness increases.
www.twanight.org/newTWAN/photos/3003492.jpg
www.farawaysoclose.net/g2/d/29160-2/06.JPG
www.hoverfalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_8104.jpg
farm3.staticflickr.com/2400/2125795506_9f469d3463_z.jpg
www.globosapiens.net/data/gallery/ir/pictures_468/iran--efahan--54203.jpg
360cities.s3.amazonaws.com/pano/ramin-dehdashti/00126903_iran-aran-bidgol-maranjab-dashte-kavir-daryache-namak-great-salt-desert-08-jpg/equirect_crop/5.jpg
360cities.s3.amazonaws.com/pano/ramin-dehdashti/00126904_iran-aran-bidgol-maranjab-dashte-kavir-daryache-namak-great-salt-desert-01-jpg/equirect_crop/5.jpg
The contrast is noticeable I think.
There are some more forested areas in Ardabil and generally the whole northwestern part of the country; the Turk's territory. I believe the high mountains of Zagros in Kohgiluieh Buyrahmad, Chaharmahal Bakhtiari and Fars used to be almost entirely covered with Oaks as is evident from the scattered forests remaining today; a highly edible and sweet variety whose kernel is made into oak-bread by the locals now. Remnants of this vast Oak-land also exist further north in Luristan, Kermanshah and Kurdistan, and to the west in Khuzestan. Apparently, the Oaks covered a vast territory in ancient times. If I remember right, today in Kurdistan an endangered species of relatively large squirrels still lives in what's left of the jungle, feeding on the acorns. I imagine in ancient times some form of predator must have also lived there, who preyed on the squirrels. (Iran used to have a native species of Lions, Cheetahs, Tigers (up north; Miankaleh,) Bears (northern forests,) Leopards, Lynx, etc. etc.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Persian_Leopard_sitting.jpg
Today there are still wolves, jackals, foxes, wild cats, and cheetahs (very rare.)
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Iran_topo_en.jpg
The first picture is a satellite photo of the area labelled "Kavir Desert" in the second picture.
I was gonna write up an eyewitness description of this particular desert, to portray its incredible vast emptiness.. But I can't write for some reason. It's like the words just refuse to come. Is this a writer's block?
Anyway, the kavir desert together with the lut desert (second picture, south-east of Iran) are extremely dry lowland plains. The lack of moisture is largely a result of their situation in the rain shadow of the Zagros, and also because of their relatively low elevation.
Except maybe ~1/10 of Iran's land, the rest is entirely desert. There's plenty of mountains all over this desert. Some plateaus (large elevated areas) rise well over 2 kilometers above the central plains. But even at such elevations, the desert persists.
On the western slopes of the Zagros there are still some scattered Oak forests; relics from a different time when the area wasn't so dry. But it seems the oaks have been disappearing due to drought, largely in the past centuries. And in the recent decade their numbers have been decimated even further by an unknown disease.
On the northern slopes of the Alborz range there are vast stretches of continuous temperate rainforests.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ghaleye_Rud_Khan_(40)_4.jpg
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ghaleye_Rud_Khan_(14).JPG
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Golestan.jpg
www.succow-stiftung.de/tl_files/images/PhotoGalerien-Projektseiten/Aserbaidschan/Schutz%20der%20Hyrkanischen%20Waelder/sonnendurchflutet%20-%20flooded%20with%20sunlight.jpg
naturalforest.ir/aksha/hyr/picture2.jpg
These pics should give you a general idea of what it's like. It's really awesome. I've been to the jungles of Gilan and Mazandaran plenty of times (It's a major tourist destination; Next week probably over 5 million people will visit the area from all over Iran) and I think there's really no way any picture could convey the magnificent beauty of this place. There is a species of giant trees called Persian Ironwood, which is endemic to the Hyrcanian forests on the Caspian coast. These guys turn bright yellow, orange and red before their leaves become brown and fall off. It is really a captivating sight in autumn. Once a friend and I found one of these Ironwoods deep in the jungles of Mazandaran; it must have been at least 80 meters tall. We estimated its age at 2000 years.
But then south of the same Alborz mountain range there is only bone dry desert, and as you head further south(east) the dryness increases.
www.twanight.org/newTWAN/photos/3003492.jpg
www.farawaysoclose.net/g2/d/29160-2/06.JPG
www.hoverfalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_8104.jpg
farm3.staticflickr.com/2400/2125795506_9f469d3463_z.jpg
www.globosapiens.net/data/gallery/ir/pictures_468/iran--efahan--54203.jpg
360cities.s3.amazonaws.com/pano/ramin-dehdashti/00126903_iran-aran-bidgol-maranjab-dashte-kavir-daryache-namak-great-salt-desert-08-jpg/equirect_crop/5.jpg
360cities.s3.amazonaws.com/pano/ramin-dehdashti/00126904_iran-aran-bidgol-maranjab-dashte-kavir-daryache-namak-great-salt-desert-01-jpg/equirect_crop/5.jpg
The contrast is noticeable I think.
There are some more forested areas in Ardabil and generally the whole northwestern part of the country; the Turk's territory. I believe the high mountains of Zagros in Kohgiluieh Buyrahmad, Chaharmahal Bakhtiari and Fars used to be almost entirely covered with Oaks as is evident from the scattered forests remaining today; a highly edible and sweet variety whose kernel is made into oak-bread by the locals now. Remnants of this vast Oak-land also exist further north in Luristan, Kermanshah and Kurdistan, and to the west in Khuzestan. Apparently, the Oaks covered a vast territory in ancient times. If I remember right, today in Kurdistan an endangered species of relatively large squirrels still lives in what's left of the jungle, feeding on the acorns. I imagine in ancient times some form of predator must have also lived there, who preyed on the squirrels. (Iran used to have a native species of Lions, Cheetahs, Tigers (up north; Miankaleh,) Bears (northern forests,) Leopards, Lynx, etc. etc.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Persian_Leopard_sitting.jpg
Today there are still wolves, jackals, foxes, wild cats, and cheetahs (very rare.)