Namakdan Cave

Namakdan Cave, located 90 kilometers west of Qeshm Island, is situated inside the Namakdan Salt Dome, which rises 237 meters above sea level. Namakdan Cave is the largest salt cave in the world on Qeshm Island, spanning approximately 6,400 meters. In the southern part of the Namakdan Salt Dome, two kilometers further from the road, there are three entrances to Namakdan Cave known as N1, N2, and N3.

N3 is one of the entrances of Namakdan Cave, which was explored by a three-member Czech team in 2005. They named it N3 because no one had previously reached the end of this salt cave. The Namakdan Salt Dome is located between the Aghajari and Mishan formations and has a thickness of nearly 40 kilometers. Namakdan Cave dates back to the Precambrian geological era, around 570 million years ago, although the formation of the dome itself occurred about 6,000 years ago.

During this long period, with water infiltration and wind erosion on the island, salt has seeped into the underground corridors and passages, resulting in the formation of salt halls and chambers as salt rocks broke and fell. Namakdan Cave expanded as a result. The cave has five halls, and its height reaches up to 50 meters in the middle section. The first hall is located at a distance of 670 kilometers from the cave entrances. Along the path to Namakdan Cave, three-meter salt crystal stalactites can be observed. Additionally, salt layers in shades of orange, red, and yellow are visible. There is also a one-meter-deep salt lake located 160 kilometers into the cave, formed by the boiling of a salt spring.

Due to continuous rockfall of salt inside the cave, only the section accessible from the N1 entrance is open for public visitation. The section accessible from the N3 entrance requires caving equipment and getting permisions from Qeshm Island's Geological Park.