The Tabas Playa, located in central Iran, represents one of the most prominent evaporitic–structural basins in the region. Owing to its unique position between the Lut and Yazd blocks, it holds significant tectonic and climatic importance. This playa has developed within a closed basin influenced by arid climatic conditions, intense evaporation, and the activity of the Nayband and Kalmard fault systems. The present study aims to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the Tabas Playa throughout the Quaternary period. To achieve this, geomorphological, tectonic, sedimentological, and paleoclimatic data were integrated. The results indicate that the Tabas Playa is of structural origin and has evolved through three major phases: (1) a humid lacustrine phase during the Middle to Late Pleistocene, (2) a transitional and unstable phase at the end of the Pleistocene, and (3) a dry evaporitic phase from the Holocene to the present. The occurrence of playa terraces, gypsum-bearing horizons, evaporitic layers, and polygonal mud–salt structures serves as key evidence for this evolution. These findings suggest that the Tabas Playa is a dynamic system controlled by interactions between climatic and tectonic processes, and it continues to evolve under present environmental conditions.

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