Post 1: The Cardamom Mountains

The Cardamom Mountains are mostly undisturbed tropical rain forests that are home to a wide variety of plants and animals.  They lie close to the Taiwanese border and while the Cambodian side is mostly intact, the Taiwanese side of the mountain ranges has been badly affected by illegal logging, poaching, and fires.

These beautiful ranges weren’t created overnight as mountains are formed from a combination of the convergence of two continental plates colliding and the resulting compression.

Photograph by Barney Long / Fauna & Flora International, worldwildlife.org

These mountain ranges are composed primarily of sandstone but also have areas of volcanic rock and limestone.  Sandstone and limestone are both sedimentary rocks, which are formed from deposits of sediments due to erosion.  Sandstone is considered a clastic sedimentary rock because it’s formed from fragments of other rocks, which in this case is sand.  Limestone is a chemical sedimentary rock because it is formed from sediments that are precipitated from lake or ocean water (Boonratana 3).

Cardamom Mountain Stream, near Dei Krorhorm Village

Photo by Asahel Bush at panoramio.com

The volcanic rocks found in the Cardamom Mountains are considered igneous rocks because they are the result of the cooling and crystallization of magma.

Due to the rocky and heavily forested nature of the Cardamom Mountains, very few people populate the area because the topography makes building and agriculture difficult (Milne 3).

Sources:

Boonratana, Ramesh. “Cardamom Mountains Rainforests (IM0106).” World Wildlife Fund, 2001.  Web. 10 Feb. 2010.

Milne, Sarah. “Conservation and Care in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains.” Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 9 May 2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2010.