NAMAK

Project NAMAK (namak = salt in the Persian language) is free association of geologists and speleologists who are cooperating on exploration and research of the unique salt caves and salt karst in Iran. The research is jointly held by Charles University in Prague, Czech Academy of Sciences and Shiraz University with a contribution of persons from the private sphere.

The NAMAK team studies Iranian salt karst since 1998. During the Project 16 salt diapirs were visited and more than 60 caves were discovered, 30 of which were mapped. The most exciting discoveries were made in the Namakdan, Hormoz and Jahani salt diapirs. The most significant was the discovery and documentation of the longest cave in the world formed in salt (3N Cave, Ghar-e 3N in Farsi). The results provided by the NAMAK Project make the Iranian salt karst one of the most remarkable areas with known salt caves on Earth. More information about the 3N Cave in English is presented by Bruthans et al. (2006) and in French by Filippi et al. (2006). 

Obtained results of the NAMAK project are continuously published in scientific and popular journals and in audio-visual media. Members of the NAMAK team asisted with the movie making by the Czech TV, Iranian TV and BBC/National Geographic Chanell. Namely due to the discovery and documentation of the 3N Cave by the NAMAK team, part of the Qeshm Island was pronounced as National geopark and in 2006 it was registered by the UNESCO Network of Geoparks.   

All materials are copyrighted by the NAMAK Team (for more information, please ask Michal Filippi or Jiri Bruthans, see in Contacts).