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  Image: Geographic Location Direction Photo #: ISS012-E-18779 Date: Feb. 2006
Geographic Region: IRAN
Feature: LINEAR MTS., DASH-E-LUT SALARS

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  View Low-Resolution Image  
  Winter in the Dasht-e-Lut Desert, Eastern Iran

An International Space Station crew member took this striking photograph one evening in late February. The image takes advantage of the Sun's low angle to reveal linear geological structures of the Iranian mountain range bordering the western edge of the basin known as Dasht-e-Lut. The range rises 1,818 meters (6,000 feet) above sea level and lies 750 kilometers (466 miles) north of the Persian Gulf. The convoluted appearance results from erosion of folded and faulted rocks--softer rocks erode away quickly, leaving more resistant rock to form linear ridges that are perpendicular to the direction of compression. While not a major oil-producing region like the Zagros Fold Belt to the southwest, the mountains of east-central Iran contain economically important deposits of copper and other metals.

Little vegetation can be seen from space in the arid interior basin of the Dasht-e-Lut. Iran is climatically part of the Afro-Asian belt of deserts that stretch from the Cape Verde islands off West Africa all the way to Mongolia near Beijing, China. The patchy, elongated, light-colored feature in the foreground (parallel to the mountain range) is the northernmost of the Dasht dry lakes that stretch southward 300 kilometers (186 miles). In near-tropical deserts, elevated areas capture most precipitation. Agricultural fields that depend on this precipitation appear as small dark patches in this image. They are located downslope, near the margin of the lake's dry, salty soils.

 
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Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 262k
Mission: ISS012  
Roll - Frame: E - 18779
Geographical Name: IRAN  
Features: LINEAR MTS., DASH-E-LUT SALARS  
Center Lat x Lon: 33.5N x 57.0E
Film Exposure:   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 50
 
Camera: E4
 
Camera Tilt: HO   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 180  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: NE   The direction from the nadir to the center point, N=North, S=South, E=East, W=West
Stereo?:   Y=Yes there is an adjacent picture of the same area, N=No there isn't
Orbit Number: 1604  
 
Date: 20060228   YYYYMMDD
Time: 132150   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 27.5N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 51.8E  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 253   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 186   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: 15   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views: BASIN, CAPE, DESERT, EROSION, MOUNTAIN, RANGE  
Water Views: GULF, LAKE, SEA  
Atmosphere Views:  
Man Made Views:  
City Views: BEIJING  
Photo is not associated with any sequences


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