Environmental Assessment
Volume E-3.1
Tailings Facility
Topography and Geomorphology
Ambatovy Project
19
January 2006
3.1
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY
3.1.1
Introduction
This section presents the Environmental Assessment for the effects of the tailings
facility on topography and geomorphology, including unique topographic
features, as per the Ambatovy Project (the project) Terms of Reference.
3.1.2
Study Area
The tailings facility Local Study Area (LSA) for topography and geomorphology
is the same as the tailings facility terrestrial study area (a sub-area of the
Toamasina region study area) presented in Volume A, Figure 7.2-3. It includes
the tailings facility, corridor from the tailings facility to Route Nationale (RN) 2,
and buffer areas within 500 m of these planned disturbances.
3.1.3
Baseline Summary
A series of three valleys west of Toamasina make up the area of the planned
tailings facility. The valleys are characterized by moderately steep, forested
hillsides and valley walls which descend into flat, wide valley floors. The
highest elevation within the valleys is 90 masl (metres above sea level) at the
western end, and the lowest elevation is 4 masl, in the far eastern portion of the
site. The valley floors, in particular the wide, wet floor of the northern valley,
have been developed into rice paddies. Drainage flows in an easterly direction in
the valleys along a natural gradient of less than six degrees (10%).
Based on a qualitative analysis of the landscape, the tailings facility LSA is not
considered to contain any unique topographic features.
Additional details concerning baseline conditions are provided in Volume I,
Section 1.1.
3.1.4
Issue Scoping
The main potential issues relating to topography and geomorphology are:
•
initial removal and disturbance of unique or important topographic
features important for social or biological reasons; and
