Dašt-e Khara

East of Abarkuh, a salt desert occupies the lowest part of the inland basin. Seasonal rivers carry water and sediment from the surrounding highlands, but evaporation leaves salt and gypsum across the flat ground. Dry mud, saline clay and shallow marshes form different zones around the basin's margins. Beyond the salt flats rise the hills separating Abarkuh from the oases and valleys farther south, a stark landscape where surface water appears only intermittently.