Near-lakes

Near-lakes are bodies of water that do not meet the thresholds fo being a 'proper' lake or pool. They may be too small, too shallow or substantially change their size seasonally. Please refer to the Methods page for more detailed information.

We maintain a list of such 'lakes' in a similar fashion as we do for 'properly existing' lakes - sorted by descending altitude.

Damavand Pool, Iran, 5645 m

Damavand pool is a small body of water in the crater of Damavand volcano. The peak is the highest volcano in Asia, so it is included in the Volcanic Seven Summits list. It is potentially active - sulfurous fumaroles (solfataras) can be seen in the crater itself (see photo below). There have been reports that the laguna is 30-40 meters in diameter, however the photos we have suggest it's only 10 meters (or less) in diameter - too small to qualify even as a pool.

Google Earth has 9 photos of Damavand shot between July 2004 and December 2013. 8 of them are from summer (Jul-Sep) and we cannot find the pool on any of them. We also have many climber's photos that show the inside of the crater filled with snow and firn, even in the summer. Fortunately, we have some climber's photos that do show a body of water; the first from the left is from Damavand's Wikipedia page.

DamavandNearPool DamavandNearPool DamavandNearPool

Please note, that the diameter of the crater is about 100-130 metres, the pool has less that 1/10 of the size. Wa can also compare the size of the pool to the silhouettes of the climbers at the rim of the crater.

There's a description of the pool:
Due to freezing temperature at that altitude, there is little chance to see water in the pool and generally it is an icy pool rather than a water lake, The lake disappears totally and freezes during the cold seasons. If you climb Damavand in the summer season, it is a good idea to visit this natural phenomenon, but remember the water in this pool is not drinking water. Due to its small size, this pool can not qualify as a true permanent lake also because it disappears during the winter and cold season. It is just a small frozen pool at a high altitude.