Located in the southwest, this range presents the most dramatic topography in Cambodia. Here, contour lines crowd together violently, rising from sea level to at Phnom Aural—the nation’s highest peak. The map shows a jagged, northwest-southeast trending spine that acts as a perfect orographic barrier. This range intercepts moisture-laden monsoon winds from the Gulf of Thailand, creating the country’s wettest region (over 5,000 mm of rain annually) and a series of steep, short river valleys that cascade toward the coast. The coastline itself is fragment by the map into a drowned landscape of estuaries and mangroves, known locally as the "Kampong Saom Bay."
At the heart of the topographic map lies the , a vast alluvial lowland that covers nearly three-quarters of the country. Elevations here rarely exceed 20 meters above sea level. This is not a featureless flatland, however. The map reveals a subtle, almost imperceptible slope from north to south, directing all water toward the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers. topographic map of cambodia
