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Cambodia's Geography
Back to top Back to main Skip to menuCambodia's Geography
Cambodia covers 181,035 sq km. The country's maximum extent is about 580km east-west and 450km north-south. It is bound on the west by Thailand, on the north by Thailand and Laos, on the east by Vietnam and to the south by the Gulf of Thailand.
Cambodia's two dominant topographical features are the Mekong River, which is almost 5km wide in places, and the Tonlé “ap Lake. The Mekong, which rises in Tibet, flows about 486km through Cambodia before continuing, via southern Vietnam, to the South China Sea. At Phnom Penh, it splits into the Upper River (simply called the Mekong) and the Lower River (Tonlé ‚assac). The rich sediment deposited during the Mekong's annual wet-season flooding has made for very fertile agricultural land. Most of Cambodia's streams and rivers flow into the Mekong- Tonlé “ap basin.
In the center of Cambodia, around the Tonlé “ap Lake and the upper Mekong Delta, is a low-lying alluvial plain were the vast majority of Cambodians live. Extending outward from this plain are thinly forested transitional plains with elevations of no more than about 100m above the sea level.
In the southwest, much of the area between the gulf of Thailand and the Tonlé “ap lake is covered by a highland region formed by two distinct upland blocks: the Chuor Phnom Kravanh (Cardamom mountains) in southwestern Battambang province and Pursat province, and the Chuor Phnom Damrei (Elephant mountains) in the provinces of Kompong Speu, Koh Kong and Kampot. Along the south coast is a heavily forested lowland strip isolated from the rest of the country by the mountains to the north. Cambodia's highest peak is Phnom Aoral (1813m), in Pursat province.
Along Cambodia's northern border with Thailand, the plains abut an east-west oriented sandstone escarpment more than 300km long and 180m to 550m in height that marks the southern limit of the Chuor Phnom Dangrek (Dangrek Mountains). In the northeastern corner of the country (the province of Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri), the transitional plains give way to the eastern highlands, a remote region of densely forested mountains and high plateaus that extends eastward into Vietnam's central highlands and northward into Laos.
Cambodia can be divided neatly into two geomorphologic regions: the central plains of the Mekong- Tonlé “ap basin, which formed from an ancient marine gulf and later filled with alluvium and colluvium (rock fragments from the base of the cliffs) from the Mekong River, and the basin periphery of mountain ranges, which include a variety of mineral and soil types. Cambodia's main mineral resources include basalt in Kompong Cham Province; granite in Kompong Chhnang Province; limestone in the west and northwest; quartz in Takeo Province; marble in Pursat and Stung Treng Province; and gems in Pailin and, to a lesser extent, Ratanakiri Province. There are thought to be extensive natural gas deposits off the coast of Cambodia and sufficient oil, if recoverable, to make the country energy self-sufficient.
Cambodia's two dominant topographical features are the Mekong River, which is almost 5km wide in places, and the Tonlé “ap Lake. The Mekong, which rises in Tibet, flows about 486km through Cambodia before continuing, via southern Vietnam, to the South China Sea. At Phnom Penh, it splits into the Upper River (simply called the Mekong) and the Lower River (Tonlé ‚assac). The rich sediment deposited during the Mekong's annual wet-season flooding has made for very fertile agricultural land. Most of Cambodia's streams and rivers flow into the Mekong- Tonlé “ap basin.
In the center of Cambodia, around the Tonlé “ap Lake and the upper Mekong Delta, is a low-lying alluvial plain were the vast majority of Cambodians live. Extending outward from this plain are thinly forested transitional plains with elevations of no more than about 100m above the sea level.
In the southwest, much of the area between the gulf of Thailand and the Tonlé “ap lake is covered by a highland region formed by two distinct upland blocks: the Chuor Phnom Kravanh (Cardamom mountains) in southwestern Battambang province and Pursat province, and the Chuor Phnom Damrei (Elephant mountains) in the provinces of Kompong Speu, Koh Kong and Kampot. Along the south coast is a heavily forested lowland strip isolated from the rest of the country by the mountains to the north. Cambodia's highest peak is Phnom Aoral (1813m), in Pursat province.
Along Cambodia's northern border with Thailand, the plains abut an east-west oriented sandstone escarpment more than 300km long and 180m to 550m in height that marks the southern limit of the Chuor Phnom Dangrek (Dangrek Mountains). In the northeastern corner of the country (the province of Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri), the transitional plains give way to the eastern highlands, a remote region of densely forested mountains and high plateaus that extends eastward into Vietnam's central highlands and northward into Laos.
Cambodia can be divided neatly into two geomorphologic regions: the central plains of the Mekong- Tonlé “ap basin, which formed from an ancient marine gulf and later filled with alluvium and colluvium (rock fragments from the base of the cliffs) from the Mekong River, and the basin periphery of mountain ranges, which include a variety of mineral and soil types. Cambodia's main mineral resources include basalt in Kompong Cham Province; granite in Kompong Chhnang Province; limestone in the west and northwest; quartz in Takeo Province; marble in Pursat and Stung Treng Province; and gems in Pailin and, to a lesser extent, Ratanakiri Province. There are thought to be extensive natural gas deposits off the coast of Cambodia and sufficient oil, if recoverable, to make the country energy self-sufficient.
