Iran's Rainbow Mountain: Man-Made or Natural?

This dazzling rainbow mountain is on Hormuz Island, Iran, and is one of the check-in spots you shouldn't miss when you visit the island! From the pictures, you can already see how beautiful and striking the colours of this mountain are. Up close, you'll see that this rainbow mountain is full of more than 70 shades, so tourists keep coming to take check-in photos and take in the scenery. Rainbow mountains like this are rare on Earth; others include Zhangye National Geopark in China, the Hornocal range in Argentina, and Ausangate in Peru. ***Did this rainbow mountain form naturally, or did humans make it? *** With such unreal beauty, many people wonder whether nature could really colour a mountain so richly... Yes, it is something nature created. It began hundreds of millions of years ago, when a layer of salt lay in shallow seawater, covered by layers of volcanic sediment. Over time the salt layer pushed up through cracks in the rock to the surface of the land. Once on top, the salt formed thick layers around the edge of the Persian Gulf and mixed with sand and mineral-rich volcanic sediment. All of it, salt, sand and minerals, combined to form this multicoloured rainbow mountain. The colours that appear on the mountain come from the volcanic minerals that merged with the salt layer; the most prominent mineral colours are black, white, yellow, red and blue. When the sun shines down, the gold and red of the mountain glow and sparkle at once. The sparkle does not come from the minerals alone; volcanic rock, salt, clay and iron also help make this rainbow mountain look shiny all the time. This place has another claim to fame: it is an edible volcano!! You can see the red mineral inside the mountain, and it is edible. Locals use it as a spice for cooking, and some households process it into a sauce called surakh, which can be spread on toast. The other coloured minerals are used in industry; for example, local artists paint with them, villagers use them as dyes and to make ceramics and cosmetics, and they are sold for export. Overall, besides being a beautiful and rare geological tourist site, it is important to the local economy and to villagers' way of life, with as many as 70 kinds of minerals. It is also called the dream and inspiration of geologists and nature lovers everywhere... #TWCIranIsland#TWCTravel