The Mekong Delta covers more than 40,500 square kilometers of southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River fans out into the sea, supporting roughly 19 million people across its provinces and the city of Can Tho. Surveys between 1997 and 2007 documented over 1,000 animal species in the delta, including the Laotian rock rat, a rodent belonging to a family previously known only from an 11 million year old fossil record. The delta's wet, low lying geography, averaging under a meter above sea level across three quarters of its area, has made it one of Vietnam's most productive agricultural and aquaculture regions and, at the same time, one of the areas most vulnerable to rising seas.
Facts
Classification
Biogeographic Realm Area (sq km) Connections
Demonstrates
The annual flood pulse and rice growing calendar of the Mekong Delta are driven directly by the wet and dry seasons of the Southeast Asian monsoon.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
In Biome
Source World Wildlife Fund
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Mekong Delta
WikipediaIntroductionQuote, Introduction
The Mekong Delta, also known as the South-western Region (Vietnamese: Tây Nam Bộ) or the Western Region (Vietnamese: Miền Tây), is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries.
2. Mekong Delta (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section, first sentence, delta area figureQuote, Lead section, first sentence, delta area figure
The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of south-western Vietnam, of an area of over 40,500 km2 (15,600 sq mi).
World Wildlife Fund
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.- Demonstrates: Water Cycle
- Demonstrates: Monsoon
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