The Colors of Hormuz Island

Off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf, about 8 km from the mainland, lies Hormuz Island, a small, teardrop shaped mound of rock salt, gypsum, and anhydrite. Its location in the middle of the strait of the same name as it pinches against the mainland allowed Hormuz Island to grow into a major trading port, which it remained for several centuries. But its heydays as a strategic outpost is long gone. Today, the island’s biggest draw are not merchants but tourists.

Hormuz Island

Photo: Lukas Bischoff | Dreamstime.com

Hormuz Island is a geological marvel. The entire island is a salt dome that had risen upwards through the overlaying layers of rock. Rock salt, or halite, is weak and buoyant, so it loses its brittleness and flows more like a liquid when under high pressure. The rising mass is not purely made of salt. Embedded within it are layers of clay, carbonates, shale, and iron-rich volcanic rocks, some of which have taken on fantastic shades of red, yellow, and orange as they moved upward and interacted with water and minerals from other rock layers.

The most prominent of these colors is ochre red that is found everywhere from the beaches to the rugged cliffs. The natives call it Golak, and they exploit the soil for artistic and culinary purposes. Sand from Hormuz Island has been used in paints, cosmetics, ceramic tiles, and for the exteriors of buildings. Locals of Hormozgan Province also bake a bread called “Tomshi”. One of the ingredients of this bread is colored soil from Hormuz Island.

Hormuz Island is extremely arid, with no fresh water, no vegetation, and is extremely hot in summer. The only permanent residents of the island are fishermen and those who mine the island’s rock salt and ochre red soil.

Hormuz Island