Iran. This image was taken as the International Space Station passed over the deserts of central Iran, including Kavir. The lack of soil & vegetation allows the geological structure of the rocks to be seen. The patterns result from the gentle folding of numerous thin, light & dark layers of rock. The dark water of a lake (centre) occupies a depression in a more easily eroded, S-shaped layer. A small river snakes across the bottom of the image. There is nothing to give a sense of scale; the image width represents a distance of 65km An Optimised version of an original NASA image / Credit: NASA

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Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Earth from Space
Photo credit: © NASA / digitaleye / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: aerial, arid, barren, central, color, dasht, desert, desertification, deserts, digitaleye, earth, geography, geological, horizontal, imaging, inhospitable, iran, iranian, jamie, kavir, landscape, marshall, nasa, patterns, persia, remote, space, structure, swirling, terrain, tribaleye