Painted Persian terraces

Nature often trumps the artist, and this wiklderness area in Iran is certainly as beautiful as any masterpiece.

Badab-e Surt is a natural site in northern Iran, a range of stepped travertine terrace formations, created slowly over the centuries as flowing water from two mineral hot springs cooled and deposited carbonate minerals on the mountainside.

There are two distinct mineral springs located at 1,840 metres above sea level. The first spring contains very salty water that gathers in a small natural pool; its water is considered to have medicinal properties, especially as a cure for rheumatism and some types of skin diseases and skin conditions. The second spring has a sour taste and is predominately orange mainly due to the large iron oxide sediments at its outlet.

While the effect is magical, the reason is pure and simple chemistry. When the water, which has been supersaturated with calcium carbonate and iron carbonate, reaches the surface, carbon dioxide degases from it, and mineral carbonates are deposited. The depositing continues until the carbon dioxide in the water balances the carbon dioxide in the air. Iron carbonate and calcium carbonate are deposited by the water as soft jellies, but they eventually harden into travertine. Read more....

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Over thousands of years the water from these two springs have combined create pools of orange, red and yellow creating a naturally formed and crazily coloured staircase.

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