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El Salvador: El salvador Geography Profile 2012

2012/03/09

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El salvador Geography Profile 2012

El Salvador's coast is a narrow tropical plain with little variation in its flat to rolling terrain. Behind it, rising to an average elevation of 2,000 feet (600 m), is a plateau dotted by low mountains and crossed by two roughly parallel rows of volcanoes. The more prominent of the two runs along the southern edge of the plateau near the coastal plain. Santa Ana, a 7,828-foot (2,386–m) cone in the west, is the country's highest peak. Nearby is Izalco, a volcano known as the Lighthouse of the Pacific until its summit fires suddenly died out in 1956. As in many volcanic regions, earthquakes and tremors are frequent.

Except for the coastal plain, where numerous short rivers flow to the sea, virtually all of El Salvador is drained by the Río Lempa. It follows a relatively broad, low-lying valley through northwestern El Salvador, then turns southward to enter the sea near Jiguilisco Bay. Much of the nation's electric power is produced by hydroelectric dams on the Río Lempa. Lakes Güija, Coatepeque, and Ilopango (which occupies the crater of a low, eroded volcano) are the largest of El Salvador's natural lakes.

Only the coastal plain is tropically hot and humid. Elsewhere a more subtropical to temperate climate prevails because of increased elevation. On the plateau days are warm to hot and nights are relatively cool. There is little change throughout the year. May to October is the wet season; the rest of the year is comparatively dry. Rainfall averages about 75 inches (1,900 mm) a year.

Location: 

Central America, bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and Honduras

Geographic coordinates: 

13 50 N, 88 55 W

Map references: 

Central America and the Caribbean

Area comparative: 

slightly smaller than Massachusetts

Land boundaries Total: 

545 km

Land boundaries Note: 

Climate: 

tropical; rainy season (May to October); dry season (November to April); tropical on coast; temperate in uplands

Terrain: 

mostly mountains with narrow coastal belt and central plateau

Natural resources: 

hydropower, geothermal power, petroleum, arable land

Natural hazards: 

known as the Land of Volcanoes; frequent and sometimes destructive earthquakes and volcanic activity; extremely susceptible to hurricanes

Environment - current issues: 

deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution; contamination of soils from disposal of toxic wastes

Geography note: 

smallest Central American country and only one without a coastline on Caribbean Sea