The Lut basin of south-central Iran is ringed by mountains yet has the lowest point on the plateau at 205 m in the Namakzar-e Shahdad. The central portions of this basin are some of the most barren and inhospitable in Iran or indeed the world. Conrad and Conrad (1970) and Gabriel (1938) give descriptions of this desert basin. Intermittent streams drain the mountain ranges around Kerman east to the namakzar or namaksar (= salt waste), north from mountains near Bam (29°06'N, 58°21'E) such as the Kuh-e Jebal Barez (28°30'N, 58°20'E) and Kuh-e Bazman (28°04'N, 60°01'E) which delimit the northern edge of the Jaz Murian basin, west from the slopes of the active volcano Kuh-e Taftan (28°36'N, 61°06'E) and south from the mountain ranges near Birjand (32°53'N, 58°13'E). High points include the Kuh-e Hazaran west of Bam and south of Kerman at 4402 m. Such heights retain snow and have more abundant precipitation which feed streams at least in the mountains. However many minor and some apparently major streams marked on maps are completely dry. Much of the water is absorbed into the ground and tapped by qanats. The Shah River at Birjand is dry through most of the year (Fisher, 1968). Tabas (33°36'N, 56°54'E) at the northern end of this basin has numerous qanats (Krinsley, 1970) but I have not seen samples from this area.

The Tahrud is an important stream which drains the Hazaran to a small sump in the south of the Lut basin and has a continuous flow which becomes subsurface well east of Bam (compare maps). Its maximum map extent approaches 250 km. In the mountains, the Tahrud is 1-8 m wide and up to 50 cm deep. Water temperature was a warm, 15°C on a cool December day.

The Lut includes the largest sand dune field in Iran (ca. 10,000 sq km) which has developed through aeolian erosion. Sand dunes block roads and may well fill in or divert streams.

Qanats in this basin can have water temperatures much higher than the few surface streams. One qanat near Bam had a temperature of 25°C in a snowstorm, yet stream temperatures below 10°C are not uncommon.

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