[{SlideShowNav}] !!!Great Salt Desert [{Image src='140ir.jpg' width='800' height='800' alt='Great Salt Desert' class='image_left' caption='Image courtesy of USGS. '}] [{SET customtitle='Great Salt Desert'}] In this enhanced false-color satellite photo, shallow lakes, mudflats, and salt marshes share the sinuous valleys on Irans largely uninhabited Dasht-e Kavir, or Great Salt Desert. Due to the high heat and arid climate, marshes, lakes, and wadis experience an extreme rate of groundwater evaporation leaving large crusts of salt.