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  Image: Geographic Location Direction Photo #: ISS066-E-182850 Date: Feb. 2022
Geographic Region: IRAN
Feature: PERSIAN GULF, SEDIMENT, ZAGROS FOLD-THRUST BELT, FARS PROVINCE, SALINE LAKE

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  Ridges and Valleys of the Zagros Mountains

This astronaut photograph, taken from the International Space Station, illustrates the undulating patterns formed by the geology of the Zagros Mountains in southern Iran. The image shows a 300-kilometer (190-mile) portion of the larger Zagros Range (1600 kilometers/990 miles), which runs along the northern coast of the Persian Gulf. Several small islands are visible in the gulf.

This view shows two major geological features. The first, extending across the photo, is the elongated fold mountains and intervening valleys of heavily folded limestone layers. These mountains and valleys are oriented approximately east to west. The upfolded sections form the mountain ridges and the downfolded sections form the long valleys between the ridges. While the rocks themselves are significantly older, the folding took place during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (from about 23 million to 2.5 million years ago).

The tectonic forces involved in this folding resulted from the rigid Arabian Plate pushing in a northerly direction against the limestone strata on the Eurasian Plate. These forces have also produced a great depression in the Earth's surface which created the Persian Gulf.

The other notable geological feature in the image is a series of roughly circular salt domes. These domes appear as numerous relatively small, dark patches, each of which is indicated on this geological map. These local uplifts have formed because they are made of salt, which is less dense than the overlying rock and thus tends to rise upward through it. Salt domes also form on parts of the islands in this region of the Persian Gulf. The larger Qeshm Island includes a single salt dome near its western end.

 
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Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 486k
Mission: ISS066  
Roll - Frame: E - 182850
Geographical Name: IRAN  
Features: PERSIAN GULF, SEDIMENT, ZAGROS FOLD-THRUST BELT, FARS PROVINCE, SALINE LAKE  
Center Lat x Lon: 27.0N x 54.5E
Film Exposure:   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 10
 
Camera: N8
 
Camera Tilt: 11   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 50  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: E   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:  
 
Date: 20220207   YYYYMMDD
Time: 060901   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 26.8N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 53.8E  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 135   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 223   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: 34   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
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Photo is not associated with any sequences


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