Badab-e Surt

Badab Soort (Persian: باداب سورت) is a natural site in the Mazandaran Province in northern Iran, 95 kilometres (59 mi) south-east of the city of Sari, and 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) east of the village Orost.

It comprises a range of stepped travertine terrace formations that have been created over thousands of years as flowing water from two mineral hot springs cooled and deposited carbonate minerals on the mountainside.

The second spring has a sour taste and is predominantly orange mainly due to the large iron oxide sediments at its outlet.

[2] Badab Soort's terraces are made of travertine, a sedimentary rock deposited by flowing water from the two distinct mineral springs; they were formed during Pleistocene and Pliocene geological periods.

[1][2] As a result, over the course of thousands of years the water from these two springs emanating from the mountain range have combined and resulted in a number of orange-, red- and yellow-colored pools shaped as a naturally formed staircase.