Bazman Volcano As Seen From Orbit

Bazman volcano in Iran is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 38 crew member on the International Space Station.
Bazman volcano is located in a remote southern region within the Bazman Protected Area of Sistan and Baluchestan Provinces. While the volcano has the classic cone shape associated with stratovolcanoes, it is also heavily dissected by channels that extend downwards from the 3,490-meter-above-sea-level summit.

This radial drainage pattern – looking similar to the spokes of a bicycle wheel – is readily observed in this photograph. Such patterns can form around high, symmetric peaks when water runoff and erosion is not constrained by the resistance of geologic materials or barriers to flow, leading to essentially even distribution of water runoff channels around the central peak. While there is no historical record of volcanism at Bazman, and no geologic record of eruptive activity within the past 10,000 years, some fumarolic activity – gas and steam emissions – have been reported, according to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History’s Global Volcanism Program.

The summit of the volcano is marked by a well-formed explosion crater, and lava cones formed on the flanks of the main volcano are associated with well-preserved lava flows-a particularly striking example is visible on the north flank of Bazman at center. Together, these observations and features are suggestive that Bazman may be a dormant, rather than extinct, volcano.

ISS038-E-025895 (5 Jan. 2014) – Larger image