architecture, history and travel of Sri Lanka

Lagoon Ecosystem Flora Species

Jaffna Lagoon area near Elephant Pass - A Dry Zone Coastal Eco System

Jaffna Lagoon is situated in the Northern Dry Zone area bordering to Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mannar Districts, of the Northern Province. The location of Jaffna Lagoon is given as 90 50’ 0 N and 790 50’ 0 E to 90 20’ 0 N and 800 30’ 0 E; 1087208 N and 372066 E to 1031744 N and 445094 E.

The lagoon gets open to Palk Bay from three narrow openings and one wider opening from Kalmunai to Mandative and covers an area of 45,000 ha. It has a zero altitude and the landmass has a dry zone climatic condition. The salinity of water in the lagoon gets varied due to rain water . With dry weather there is more salinity, about 45 ppt ( parts per thousand ) and during rainy periods the figure comes down to around 10 ppt. The depth of the lagoon is shallow and the maximum depth is 3 meters.

The vegetation type of the Jaffna Lagoon in the altitude range of 0 in the Dry Zone is mainly Mangroves along the shores and scrublands in the sandy areas. The area has a Rainfall between 500-700 mm annually and most of the rainfall occurs during Northeast monsoon period from October to February.

The images appearing in the web page are mostly the Flora species found at Jaffna Lagoon ecosystem. There are few Flowering plants as well as a fair amount of scrubland plants and smaller plants found in the sandy areas adjacent to the lagoon which most often gets flooded during the monsoon.

Click on the Thumbnail Photos below to see the 800 x 600 res full size image