Annamite Cordillera

Annamite Cordillera 

highlands in Vietnam and Laos, located along the eastern edge of the Indochinese Peninsula. They have a length of about 1,300 km, a width of up to 300 km, and an altitude of up to 3,280 m. The northern part of the Annamite Cordillera is a cluster of folds made up of Carboniferous and Permian sandstones and limestones; the southern section is the residue of an ancient crystalline massif with beds of Quaternary basalts. The Truong-Son range—a complex system of mountains (altitudes of 500–1,000 m), northwest-southeast in trend, with rounded peaks—is located in the north; karst is characteristic. The southern part of the Annamite Cordillera comprises stepped peneplain crystalline and basaltic plateaus (Kontum, Ngok Linh, Me, Djiring) with steep eastern slopes and gentle western slopes, dissected by broad (often swamped) valleys. Up to altitudes of 1,000 m, the eastern slopes are covered with humid tropical forests; above this level there are coniferous forests. On the western slopes there are deciduous tropical forests and savannas.

L. I. KURAKOVA