House e Soltan

Hous-e Soltan is located in the north of the Iranian plateau and has similar geological and stratigraphic features with Lake Namak and the Dasht-e Kevir desert, which extend to the east. The compressing zone consists of Precambrian crystalline substrate of horsts and Paleozoic sediments of the platform, and Cambrian-Triassic sedimentary rocks on the plains or igneous rocks on the heights dominate on the surface. The tidal zone is an extended hollow, which on the east side is very hollow sloping, and in the west it is slightly steeper (<1%), while towards the Kuh-e Shur-Cesme mountains (1222 m) on in the north and Kukh-e Kol-Tape (950 m) and Kuh-e Charkh-e Sefid (1115 m) in the south, the slope is the largest and amounts to 2-5%. When the lake is full, it has an elliptical shape and extends 24 km from east to west and 12 km from north to south and has an area of ​​280 km². While during summer droughts, the accumulated water quickly evaporates, leaving behind a white space. The thickness of salt deposits ranges from 20 to 46 m, and consists of sodium chloride (NaCl), potassium chloride (KCl), magnesium sulfate (MgSO 4), magnesium chloride (MgCl 2) and sodium sulfate (Na2SO4). The nearest lakes to the Khos-e Soltan are located in the same hollow, and are called: Gadir-e-Asb, located 70 km to the southeast, and Namak, which is located about 90 km to the east. Both salt lakes are located at a lower altitude (about 10 kilometers below the Lake Khous-e Soltan). Large caravanserais, such as Dair-e Gachin and Sang-i Muhammedadaba, indicate that once on the plains between the Hose-e Soltan and Namak, the paths that connected Tehran and Rei in the north with Kum, Kashan, Isfahan and Yazd in the south. About 10 km north of the Hose-e Soltan are located the caravanserai of Sangi Aliabad, as well as the Kale-e Sorkh and Kale-e-Hose-E Soltan fortresses, their surroundings abound with prehistoric monuments. Given that the lake also crosses the Tehran-Kum airway, in the immediate vicinity of it are modern highways, such as Highway 7 and Highway 71 (2.5 km to the west), and two railway lines on both sides. There are no large settlements on the shores of the lake, and its economic exploitation is limited to several small farms near the inland deltas of the tributaries, and salt is mined from the lake in the south ^[2] .

Hauz-e Soltan in hydrological and hydrogeological terms, refers to the Namak discharge, and water comes primarily from the western branches of the Rud-e-Shur River, which form a large inner delta on the east coast. Due to the very mild terrain configuration, this phenomenon is also less present near the northern and southern shores, where water enters the lake from several seasonal tributaries. In the vicinity of the lake, a cold desert climate prevails with an average temperature of 17 ° C and a rainfall of 200 mm per year. Paleoclimatological studies show that during the last ice age, precipitation was 48.4% higher and the average temperature was 5.6 ° C lower than today, and these changes had a dramatic effect on geomorphology. Cold weather led to the creation of glaciers in the surrounding massifs, and the initial soil destruction processes or later river erosion created numerous alluvial terraces where some of the oldest prehistoric civilizations in Iran were discovered. Judging by the boundary terraces of the lake, there are clear signs that the House Soltan and Namak were once connected into one lake with an approximate height of 820 m ^[3] .

Flora Hous-e Soltan exists in a hot climate and high salinity, and includes many succulents and halophytes characteristic of desert and semi-desert regions. The most common type of vegetation is tamarisk.

• Lake Hawt Soltan