Lake Hamun
Overview
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s in endorheic Sīstān Basin
Sistan Basin
The Sistan Basin is an inland endorheic basin encompassing large parts of southwestern Afghanistan and southeastern Iran, one of the driest regions in the world and an area subjected to prolonged droughts...
on the on the Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
o-fghan border. Hāmūn
Hamuns
A hamun refers to seasonal desert lakes or marshlands, found on the Iranian Plateau, from Iran to Afghanistan and western Pakistan /...
is generic term which refers to shallow lakes (or lagoons), usually seasonal, that create in deserts of southeast Iran and adjacent areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
as product of snowmelt
Snowmelt
In hydrology, snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow. It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced. Water produced by snowmelt is an important part of the annual water cycle in many parts of the world, in some cases contributing high...
in nearby mountains in spring. The term Hāmūn Lake (or Lake Hāmūn) is equally applied to Hāmūn-e Helmand (entirely in Iran), as well to shallow lakes Hāmūn-e Sabari and Hāmūn-e Puzak, which extend into territory of present-day Afghanistan with latter being almost entirely inside Afghanistan.
