{"id":3542,"date":"2014-03-25T15:29:20","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T22:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/?p=3542"},"modified":"2017-10-18T21:28:40","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T04:28:40","slug":"terrain-and-eco-regions-of-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/?p=3542","title":{"rendered":"Terrain and Eco- regions of the Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terrain<\/span><\/p>\n

The islands are volcanic in origin, being part of the\u00a0<\/span>Pacific Ring of Fire<\/span><\/a>, and are mostly mountainous. The highest point in the country is the peak of\u00a0<\/span>Mount Apo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0<\/span>Mindanao<\/span><\/a>, which is 2,954 meters (9,692\u00a0ft) above sea level. The second highest point can be found on\u00a0Luzon\u00a0<\/span>at\u00a0<\/span>Mount Pulog<\/span><\/a>, a peak 2,842 meters (9,324\u00a0ft) above sea level.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>Philippine Archipelago<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is geologically part of the\u00a0<\/span>Philippine Mobile Belt<\/span><\/a>\u00a0located between the\u00a0<\/span>Philippine Sea Plate<\/span><\/a>, the South China Sea Basin of the\u00a0<\/span>Eurasian Plate<\/span><\/a>, and the\u00a0<\/span>Sunda Plate<\/span><\/a>. The\u00a0<\/span>Philippine Trench<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(also called the Mindanao Trench) is a\u00a0<\/span>submarine trench<\/span><\/a>\u00a01,320 kilometers (820\u00a0mi) in length found directly east of the Philippine Mobile Belt and is the result of a collision of tectonic plates. The Philippine Sea Plate is\u00a0<\/span>subducting<\/span><\/a>\u00a0under the Philippine Mobile Belt at the rate of about 16 centimeters (6.3\u00a0in) per year. Its deepest point, the Galathea Depth, has a depth of 10,540 meters (34,580\u00a0ft). The\u00a0<\/span>Philippine Fault System<\/span><\/a>consists of a series of seismic\u00a0faults<\/span>\u00a0that produce several\u00a0earthquakes<\/span>\u00a0per year, most of which are not felt.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"270px-Ph_physical_map\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many volcanoes in the country are active, the most recent eruption being that of\u00a0<\/span>Mount Pinatubo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on Luzon in 1991.\u00a0<\/span>Mount Mayon<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is another of the active volcanoes and has the world’s most perfectly-shaped cone. Mayon has a violent history of 47 eruptions since 1616 and another violent eruption is currently feared.\u00a0<\/span>Taal Volcano<\/span><\/a>, also located on Luzon, is one of the\u00a0<\/span>Decade Volcanoes<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The islands typically have narrow coastal plains and numerous swift-running streams. Every island has sand beaches, but few open onto spacious lowlands. There are few large plains or navigable rivers. The longest river is the\u00a0<\/span>Cagayan River<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or Rio Grande de Cagayan in northern Luzon measuring 354 kilometers. In Mindanao, the longest river is the\u00a0<\/span>Rio Grande de Mindanao<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or Mindanao River which drains\u00a0<\/span>Maguindanao<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and other parts in western-central Mindanao.\u00a0<\/span>Agusan River<\/span><\/a>\u00a0drains eastern Mindanao.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eco-regions of the Philippines<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Philippine<\/span><\/a>\u00a0archipelago<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0is one of the world’s great reservoirs of\u00a0biodiversity<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0endemism<\/span><\/a>. The archipelago includes over 7000 islands, and a total land area of 300,780 km\u00b2.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"070401-1029ExoticCapsilay\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Philippines was never connected to mainland\u00a0Asia<\/span><\/a>\u00a0via land bridges, so the flora and fauna of the islands had to cross ocean straits to reach the Philippines. The Philippines is part of the\u00a0Indomalaya<\/span><\/a>\u00a0ecozone, and its flora and fauna is mostly derived from tropical Asia.\u00a0Botanically<\/span><\/a>, the Philippines are part of\u00a0Malesia<\/span><\/a>, a\u00a0floristic province<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that includes the\u00a0Malay Peninsula<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Indonesia<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0New Guinea<\/span><\/a>. Most of the Malesian flora is derived from tropical Asia, including the\u00a0dipterocarps<\/span><\/a>, which are the characteristic tree of the Philippine forests. Elements of the\u00a0Antarctic flora<\/span><\/a>, which originated in the ancient\u00a0southern hemisphere<\/span><\/a>\u00a0supercontinent of\u00a0Gondwana<\/span><\/a>, are also present, including ancient conifers like\u00a0podocarps<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(Podocarpus<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Nageia<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>\u00a0Sundacarpus<\/span><\/a><\/i>) and\u00a0araucarias<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0ecoregions<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of the Philippines are defined primarily by the sea levels during the Ice Ages, which were 120 meters lower than at present, as billions of gallons of water were locked away in huge continental ice sheets. This drop in sea level connected many presently separate islands into larger islands, which allowed for exchanges of flora and fauna:<\/span><\/p>\n