Sri Lanka Environment

Situated in the heart of the Indian Ocean, the Island of Sri Lanka is considered to be a southerly extension of the peninsula of India with which it shares a continental shelf and some of its basic litho logic and geomorphic characteristics.

The Central Highlands is a roughly triangular area which occupies the south-central region of Sri Lanka. A highly dissected terrain consisting of a unique arrangement of plateaus, ridges, intermontane basins, and valleys, this central region is home to the island's highest peaks which include Pidurutalagala at 8281 feet (2524 metres), Kirigalpotta (7858 feet), and Adam's Peak (Sri Pada) at 7559 feet. On the western and southwestern flanks of the Central Highlands one finds a series of sharply defined escarpments, the most salient being the so-called World's End, an almost vertical precipice of about 4000 feet.

The region that surrounds the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka does not have an entirely flat and featureless terrain. Ranging from sea level to about 1000 feet (300 metres), this diverse plain accounts for five-sixths of Sri Lanka's total area. The western and southwestern regions of the plain feature a collection of alternating ridges and valleys which are parallel to the coast and increase in elevation towards the interior to merge imperceptibly with the highland mass. To the north and northeast of the highlands, the plain is traversed by low ridges that decrease in altitude as they approach the coast.

Elsewhere the flatness of the plain is sporadically interrupted by rocky buttes and mounds, some of which reach elevations of more than 1000 feet. Fringed by a coast consisting mostly of beautiful sandy beaches, spits, and lagoons, the plain also features a few stretches of the coast consisting of rocky promontories and cliffs, deep-water bays, and attractive offshore islets.