The salt and mineral-rich mud of Lake Urmia, seen here in 2017, are reputed to have healing properties, especially for skin and rheumatic afflictions.Iran's Lake Urmia was once the second-largest saltwater lake in the world, covering more than 2,000 square miles at its deepest in the 1990s. In the past two decades, the lake has dried out, shrinking at times to less than 20% of its average size. It's not a story of climate change, though that certainly contributed.
