- Ankarana Reserve
Infobox_protected_area | name = Ankarana Special Reserve
iucn_category = IV
caption = Location of Ankarana Reserve
locator_x = 226
locator_y = 78
location = Northern Madagascar
nearest_city = Antsiranana (Diego Suarez)
lat_degrees = 13
lat_minutes = 4
lat_seconds = 22
lat_direction = S
long_degrees = 48
long_minutes = 54
long_seconds = 53
long_direction = E
area = 182 km²
established = 1956
visitation_num = approx. 6000
visitation_year = 2005
governing_body = Parcs Nationaux Madagascar - ANGAPAnkarana Reserve is a small vegetated
plateau in northernMadagascar with elevations that exceed 1220 meters (4000 feet) above sea level. It is composed of 150-million-year-oldlimestone .cite book | author = Reader's Digest | authorlink = Reader's Digest | title = Natural Wonders of the World | year = 1980 | id = ISBN 0-89577-087-3 | pages = 48] With an average annual rainfall of 1,800 millimeters (70 inches), the underlying rocks are susceptible to erosion, thereby producing caves and underground streams—akarst topography . The rugged relief and the dense vegetation have helped protect the region from human intrusion.The plateau slopes gently to the east, but on the west it ends abrubtly in the "Wall of Ankarana", a sheer cliff that extends 25 km (15 miles) north to south, and rises as high as 280 m (920 feet). To the south, the limestone mass breaks up into separate spires known as "tower karst". In the center of the plateau, eons of rainfall have dissolved the limestone away in deep gorges, and sometimes redeposited it in ribbons of
flowstone . In places where the chalky upper layers have been completely eroded, the harder base rock has been etched into channels and ridges known as "tsingy ".ee also
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Madagascar dry deciduous forests References
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