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| Both land relief and drainage are influenced by the
aridity that characterizes the greater part of the country.
The impression of immensity given by the landscape is
reinforced by its flatness; the coastal plains are lower
than 150 feet (45 metres), while the higher plains of
the interior vary from 600 to 750 feet. The interior plains
form a plateau of which the culminating heights, occurring
at different levels, form many tablelands joined to one
another by very long, gentle slopes of about 2°. The
topography is relieved by vestiges of cliffs (generally
cuestas); by sloping plains that terminate at one end
of the slope with a steep cliff or faulted scarp, which
may reach heights of 900 feet; or by inselbergs (steep-sided
residual hills), of which the highest is Mount Ijill at
3,002 feet (915 metres), an enormous block of hematite. |
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