Titiwangsa Mountains

The Titiwangsa Range (Malay: Banjaran Titiwangsa, بنجرن تيتيوڠسا, pronounced [ˈband͡ʒaˈran titiwaŋˈsa]), also known as "Banjaran Besar" (Big Range) by locals, is the chain of mountains that forms the backbone of the Malay Peninsula. The northern section of the range is in southern Thailand, where it is known as Sankalakhiri Range (Thai: ทิวเขาสันกาลาคีรี, pronounced [tʰīw kʰǎw sǎn.kāːlāːkʰīːrīː]).

Titiwangsa Range
Sankalakhiri Range
The Titiwangsa Mountains at the Ulu Bernam's PLUS Rest Area
Highest point
PeakGunung Korbu
Elevation2,183 m (7,162 ft)
Dimensions
Length480 km (300 mi) NW/SE
Width120 km (75 mi) NE/SW
Geography
CountriesMalaysia and Thailand
Range coordinates5°58′12″N 101°19′37″E
Parent rangeTenasserim Hills
Geology
Age of rockPermian and Triassic
Type of rockGranite and limestone
The Titiwangsa Range near Slim River

The range acts as a natural divider, dividing Peninsular Malaysia, as well as southernmost Thailand, into east and west coast regions. The length of mountain range is about 480 km from north to south.

Geology

The Titiwangsa Range is part of a suture zone that runs north-south, starting in Thailand at the Nan-Uttaradit suture zone (partly coincident with the Dien Bien Phu fault), and extending south towards Peninsular Malaysia (Bentong-Raub suture zone).[1] The western half of the Titiwangsa Mountains in Peninsular Malaysia is an amalgamation of continental terranes known as Cimmeria or Indochina, whereas the eastern half is an amalgamation of continental terranes Sinoburmalaya or Sibumasu. These two halves of terranes were separated by the Paleo-Tethys Ocean.[2][3]

The Cimmeria was separated from Gondwana around 400 mya during the Devonian and rifted towards Laurasia, the northeastern arm of Pangea. It attached to Laurasia completely around 280 mya during the Late Permian.

Sibumasu terranes on the other hand, only started to separate from Gondwana during the Early Permian and rifted towards Indochina. The collision of Sibumasu terranes and Indochina terranes during 200mya Late Triassic resulted in the closure of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean and formation of the modern Titiwangsa Mountain belts.

Geography

This mountain range is a part of the wider Tenasserim Hills system. It forms the southernmost section of the Indo-Malayan cordillera which runs from Tibet through the Kra Isthmus into the Malay Peninsula.[4]

The Titiwangsa mountain range begins in the north as the Sankalakhiri Range, a prolongation of the Nakhon Si Thammarat Range which includes the smaller Pattani, Taluban, and Songkhla sub-ranges. The main range runs approximately from northwest to southeast across the border into Malaysia and ends in the south near Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Foothills extend further southeastwards into Melaka and Johor with its terminus at Mount Pulai.

The highest elevation is 2,183 m (7,162 ft) Gunung Korbu. On the Thai side the highest point is 1,533 m Ulu Titi Basah (ยูลูติติ บาซาห์), at the Thai/Malaysian border between Yala Province and Perak.[5] In the southern foothills, the highest is 1,276 m Mount Ophir.

Infrastructure

Several popular tourist destinations such as Royal Belum, Cameron Highlands, Genting Highlands and Fraser's Hill are located on the range.

A number of roads cut through the Titiwangsa Forest Complex.

Protected areas

Thailand

Malaysia

References
  1. Racey, Andrew (2009). "Mesozoic red bed sequences in SE Asia and the significance of the Khorat Group of NE Thailand". In Buffetaut, Eric (ed.). Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Ecosystems in SE Asia. Geological Society of London. p. 46. ISBN 9781862392755. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  2. Metcalfe, I., 2000, "The Bentong-Raub Suture Zone", Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, v. 18, p. 691-712
  3. Metcalfe, I., 2002, "Permian tectonic framework and palaeogeography of SE Asia", Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, v. 20, p. 551-566
  4. Avijit Gupta, The Physical Geography of Southeast Asia, Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-19-924802-5
  5. "Gunong Ulu Titi Basah, Thailand - Geographical Names, map, geographic coordinates".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.