Northern Range
| Northern Range | |
|---|---|
 In the north of Trinidad: The Northern Range. |
|
 , Northern Range, the Asa Wright Nature Center seen from |
|
| Highest peak | Cerro del Aripo ( 940 m ) |
| location | Trinidad ( Trinidad and Tobago ) |
| Coordinates | 10 ° 44 ′ N , 61 ° 15 ′ W |
| Age of the rock | Upper Jurassic |
The Northern Range is a low mountain range in the north of the island of Trinidad in Trinidad and Tobago .
geography
The Northern Range is an extension of the Venezuelan part of the Andes . The mountain range is about 100 kilometers long in west-east extension and extends from the Chaguaramas peninsula in the Gulf of Paria in the west to Taco on the Atlantic Ocean in the east. In north-south expansion it is 20 kilometers long and extends from the Caribbean Sea to the Eastern Main Road. This means that the Northern Range takes up about 25% of the land mass of Trinidad. Viewed in a north-south cross-section, the mountains are clearly asymmetrical; from the ridge it generally slopes gently to the south, but to the north it drops steeply into the sea. The political regions of Trinidad, through which the Northern Range stretches, are from west to east Diego Martin , Port of Spain , San Juan-Laventille , Tunapuna-Piarco , Arima and Sangre Grande . The two highest peaks are Cerro del Aripo , northeast of Arima, at 940 meters and El Tucuche, north of Port of Spain, at 937 meters.
Geology and climate
The Northern Range consists largely of sedimentary rock (slate and limestone). The oldest layers originated in the Upper Jurassic . Marble, quartzite, and phyllite are common. For a long time, blue limestone was mined in Laventille and used for magnificent buildings. The eastern foothills of the Northern Range are partly of volcanic origin. With 3810 millimeters per year, the amount of precipitation is the highest in Trinidad.
Waters
The Northern Range catchment area is the most important element of Trinidad's drinking water supply. The Hollis Reservoir, the oldest water reservoir in Trinidad, is located northeast of Arima and can provide 37 million liters of water per day at maximum filling. It is fed by the Quare River and rainwater from the surrounding mountains. A total of twelve rivers, which have their source on the southern side of the Northern Range, drain into the longest river in Trinidad, the Caroni River , which flows along the East-West Corridor from east to west and finally flows into the Gulf of Paria . Larger rivers originating in the Northern Range are the Caura River and Oropuche River (drain to the south) and the Marianne River, Shark River and Yarra River (drain to the north into the Caribbean Sea).
Flora and fauna
To the west of the Northern Range, the suburbs of Port of Spain pull up the slopes. There the chain of hills is largely settled and deforested . Forest cover increases to the east, but the Northern Range is exposed to erosion and degradation due to unregulated mining, quarries, agriculture and urbanization . In the Arima Valley, however, there is still pristine tropical mountain rainforest because of the Asa Wright Nature Center located there. Other nature reserves in the Northern Range are the Trinity Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and the Valencia Wildlife Sanctuary . The Northern Range has a high biodiversity, as the fauna of South America and that of the northern Caribbean islands mix here.
In the Dunston cave in the valley of Arima and in the Aripo cave on Cerro del Aripo there are populations of the rare fat swallow . A bird species endemic to Trinidad and now only found in the Northern Range is the endangered Trinidad Guan .
The Phyllodytes auratus (Golden Tree Frog), endemic to Trinidad, lives at altitudes between 800 and 940 m around the two peaks Cerro del Aripo and El Tucuche . According to the IUCN , it is listed as "critically endangered".
In Williams Bay there are larger seagrass -Occurrence. Plants endemic to the Northern Range include: a. Dicliptera aripoensis and Justicia flaviflora.
Economy and Transport
history
Agricultural products, especially cocoa and coffee, have been grown in the fertile valleys since they were settled by primarily French-born planters after 1783 ( Cédula de Población ). Due to the impassable mountains, the settlements in the north of the Northern Range were cut off from the rest of the island. From 1813, a steamship line introduced by Governor Ralph Woodford connected the coastal towns of Blanchisseuse , Matelot and Toco with Port of Spain and San Fernando and thus enabled the movement of goods and people. From 1931 the connection to the Trinidadian road network followed.
today
The west of the Northern Range is densely populated by the rampant suburbs of Port of Spain, accordingly the area benefits from Port of Spains status as the financial center of the Caribbean and one of the most important trading centers in the Caribbean. The same applies to the cities of the East-West Corridor in the south of the Northern Range. The predominant economic sectors in the actual core area of the Northern Range, on the other hand, are agriculture, forestry and ecotourism.
The densely populated north-west of the Northern Range is criss-crossed by numerous roads, but north-east of Champs Fleurs development stops abruptly, and roads only lead around large parts of the Northern Range. The Eastern Main Road runs south of the mountains of Port of Spain through the densely populated East-West Corridor to Arima and beyond to Valencia, where it bends south towards Sangre Grande. The Churchill Roosevelt Highway runs parallel to Eastern Main Road from Port of Spain to Arima. From Valencia, the Toco Main Road continues along the Northern Range to the east coast and from there around the mountains to the north to Toco.
North of Port of Spain, the North Coast Road winds over the Northern Range to the north coast and runs along this east to Blanchisseuse . The road ends there; the approx. 30 km long section between Blanchisseuse and Matelot is not developed. From Matelot, the Paria Main Road runs along the coast to Toco. From Blanchisseuse, Arima Road winds south over the Northern Range and on the way to Arima passes the Asa Wright Nature Center and the village of Brasso Seco. From Champs Fleurs, another road leads north into the Northern Range, through Trinidad's former capital St. Joseph and the Maracas Valley to Loago.
tourism
In the Arima Valley is the Asa Wright Nature Center , a combination of a resort and ornithological research station. Northeast of Arima is the Cleaver Woods Recreation Park, which depicts the way of life of the indigenous people of Trinidad, the Caribs and Arawak . The most famous beach in Trinidad, Maracas Beach, is located northeast of Port of Spain on the north coast in a foothill of the Northern Range. It is very popular with international tourists. The three beaches in Macqueripe Bay (in the western foothills of the Diego Martin region), Las Cuevas Bay (east of Maracas Beach) and Grande Riviere Bay (in the northeast of the island), which is popular with surfers, are popular destinations for inland tourism.
Cities and Towns in the Northern Range
In the capital agglomeration East-West Corridor , which extends south of the Northern Range and extends into its slopes , around 550,000 people live in numerous small towns that merge into one another between Port of Spain and Valencia. On the coast north of the mountains, along the steep mountain slopes, there are some poorly developed places. The larger of these are Maracas Bay Village and Blanchisseuse along North Coast Road to the northwest and Matelot, Grande Riviere, and Toco along Paria Main Road to the northeast. In the west, the mountains are practically cut up by the valley of Diego Martin . Otherwise the mountains are mostly uninhabited; Noteworthy are the city of Santa Cruz northeast of Port of Spain, the elongated maracas along a valley south of Maracas Bay and the place Lopinot, known for its parang music, in the middle of the central massif.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Geographical classification of the Northern Range
- ↑ a b c d Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
- ^ Political organization of Trinidad
- ^ Henry Clifford Potter: The geology of the western part of the Northern range of Trinidad . Durham University Press, Durham 1974, pp. 3 ( dur.ac.uk [PDF]).
- ↑ Newsday article, October 17, 2007, available online
- ↑ Michael Anthony: Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago . Scarecrow Press, London 1997, ISBN 0-8108-3173-2 , pp. 138 .
- ↑ Newsday of May 23, 2014: Hike-a-thon from Matelot to Blanchisseuse. Retrieved February 11, 2016 .