Earth from Space: Golden curves

The curving sands in central northern Iran’s salt desert, Dasht-e Kavir, can be seen in this image from the Ikonos-2 satellite acquired on 13 November 2008. Here, clays and sand soils have a high surface salt content owing to the concentration of minerals from high summer evaporation. Iran is one of the world’s most important mineral producers.

Earth-observing satellites are useful for finding and monitoring natural resources like minerals. Satellites can directly identify different minerals and recognise large-scale geological structures related to mineral deposits that ground-based surveys may have difficulty detecting.

Near the area pictured are biosphere reserves, national parks and wildlife refuges. When dealing with large, uninhabited areas like this, remote sensing can provide a simple solution to managing protected land.