File:All of Us on the Salt Lake - Flickr - Hamed Saber.jpg

This is our flickr gang, sitting on hegzagonals of Namak (salt) lake, located at Kavir desrt of Iran, Qum province.

The whiteness of land we are seated on at this shot, is because of Salt, which covered all over the lake. In satellite photos, you can just see a triangular white area, which all of it is SALT!

The excursion was scheduled in honor of our guest from Singapore: Kelly. Check the notes on photo for flickr pages, and also check the map of photo page, for geo-info. (We've entered the Namak lake from the south, by the road you can see in flickr map. Our program was also visiting the island you can see in right side of the map inside the lake named Sargardan Island, but unfortunately time didn't allow us to do what we planned)

Don't forget to make a look at this article from NASA about "Kavir National Park", which also contains a satellite photography of Namak (salt) lake. earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?...

Salt Lakes A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water which has a concentration of salts (mostly sodium chloride) and other minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least 3,000 milligrams of salt per liter). In many cases, salt lakes have a higher concentration of salt than sea water. (Source: Wikipedia)

Salt Flat (Playa) Playa, also known as alkali flat or sabkha, is a dry lakebed, generally the shore of, or remnant of, an endorheic lake. Such flats consist of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali salts. Their surface is generally very dry, hard and smooth in the summer months, but wet and very soft in the winter months. While the playa itself will be devoid of vegetation, they are commonly ringed by shadscale, saltbrush and other salt-tolerant plants that provide critical winter fodder for livestock and other herbivores. Many playas contain shallow lakes in the winter, especially during wet years. If the layer of water is thin and is moved around the playa by the wind, an exceedingly hard and smooth surface can develop. Thicker layers of water can result in a "cracked-mud" surface. Too little water can result in dune formation. The extremely flat, smooth, and hard surfaces of playas make them ideal surfaces for motor vehicles. Large-sized playas are further excellent spots for pursuing land speed records, as the smoothness of the surface allows low-clearance vehicles to travel very fast without risk of disruption by surface irregularities, and the course of travel does not need to be too precise to avoid obstacles. (Source: Wikipedia)

Salt Marsh A salt marsh is a type of marsh found in the intertidal transition between land and ocean. They are dominated by halophytic herbaceous plants. They are also called tidal marshes or saltings. 'Ing' is a word of Nordic origin, meaning 'meadow' and saltings made quite rich cattle pasture which was also free of liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica and others). Care should be taken not to confuse 'salting' with 'saltern', which is a salt-house. Salterns were not found among salt marshes and are places where brine is evaporated to produced salt. (Source: Wikipedia)