For the administrative division of Semnan province, see Garmsar County. For the administrative division of Anbarabad County in Kerman province, see Garmsar Rural District.
Garmsar is about 95 kilometres (59mi) southeast of Tehran. It lies on the edge of Dasht-e Kavir, Iran's largest desert. Many people in the city commute to Tehran due to its proximity. Ghasre Bahram, The Stone Way, Stonvand Castle, the Sar Darre Mountains, and Kavir Desert National Park are tourist attractions located in the area.
Demographics
Language and ethnicity
Garmsar has a Tat and Persian majority. Persian and Tati are the main languages in Garmsar County. Other languages such as Azeri and Kurdish are still spoken by older people from different ethnicities like Osanlu(azari) and Pazuki, Gharachorloo and Shadloo (kurdish) in the nearby villages.[citation needed] Younger generation speaks Persian along with their native language.
Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 38,891 in 10,951 households.[6] The following census in 2011 counted 40,985 people in 12,539 households.[7] The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 48,672 people in 16,075 households.[3]
The alluvial fan of Garmsar seen from spaceSketch of the irrigation system in the Garmsar alluvial fan
The Hablehrood river originating from Dalichai-Firouzkooh flows to the plateau of Garmsar. Its water is extensively used for agriculture. Since salt water mixes with Hablehrood before its arrival to the city, the water is not fit for drinking. Hablehrood is the only permanent river in Semnan province. Thanks to the water provided by Hablehrood, people in Garmsar grow wheat, barley, cotton and yellow melon. Garmsar is known across Iran for its sweet and crispy yellow melons.[9]
Water management
The many river branches and the irrigated fields provide recharge to the aquifer. Since ancient times, groundwater in the Garmsar area has been exploited by ghanats (qanats, karezes) and shallow wells, mainly for irrigation of agricultural land, but also for household purposes. In the last decades, the number of deep-wells has increased sharply and the ghanats have fallen dry.[10]
Yet, at the fringes of the fan, problems of waterlogging occur owing to irrigation losses higher up that are transported through the aquifer to the lower lying areas causing shallow watertables, while the evaporation from the shallow watertable brings salts into the rootzone which henceforth is salinizing. As a result, the agriculture in the fringes suffers low yields or is impossible.
Simulation of soil salinity (left) and depth of the watertable (right) in the Garmsar alluvial fan using the spatial agro-hydro-salinity model SahysMod[11]
Cuisine
The city has a regional variant of Tahchin, a dish made by slowly cooking marinated raw meat inside rice over a low flame for several hours.[9]
12سرشماري عمومي نفوس و مسكن 1395: استان سمنان[General Population and Housing Census 2016: Semnan Province]. مرکز آمار ایران [Statistical Centre of Iran] (in Persian). Archived from the original(Excel) on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
↑Garmsar can be found at GEOnet Names Server, at this link, by opening the Advanced Search box, entering "-3063636" in the "Unique Feature Id" form, and clicking on "Search Database".
↑Habibi, Hassan (12 September 1990) [تاریخ تصویب (Approval date) 1369/06/21 (Iranian Jalali calendar)]. تصویب سازمان و سلسله تابعیت عناصر و واحدهای تقسیمات کشوری استان سمنان به مرکزیت شهر سمنان[Approval of the organization and chain of citizenship of the elements and units of the national divisions of Semnan province, centered in Semnan city]. لام تا کام [Lam ta Kam] (in Persian). وزارت کشور [Ministry of the Interior]. کمیسیون سیاسی دفاعی هیأت دولت [Political Defense Commission of the Government Board]. شناسه [ID] 6E990373-75CA-4068-833E-25F3268CCDCE. شماره دوره [Course number] 69, شماره جلد [Volume number] 3. Archived from the original on 2 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
↑سرشماري عمومي نفوس و مسكن 1385: استان سمنان[General Population and Housing Census 2006: Semnan Province]. مرکز آمار ایران [Statistical Centre of Iran] (in Persian). Archived from the original(Excel) on 20 September 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
↑سرشماري عمومي نفوس و مسكن 1390: استان سمنان[General Population and Housing Census 2011: Semnan Province]. Iran Data Portal—Syracuse University (in Persian). مرکز آمار ایران [Statistical Centre of Iran]. Archived from the original(Excel) on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
