The Kaw Mountain is a 337 metres high mountain in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Roura Roura is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city of Roura is bordered by Matoury and Montsinéry-Tonnegrande in the North, Kourou and Saint-Elie in the North West and West, and ...

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is a narrow

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a table-top mountain or mesa found in South America, especially in Venezuela and western Guyana. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran S ...

with a

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

top.

Overview

Kaw Mountain is covered in

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

and is part of the northern range of the

Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield (french: Plateau des Guyanes, Bouclier guyanais; nl, Hoogland van Guyana, Guianaschild; pt, Planalto das Guianas, Escudo das Guianas; es, Escudo guayanés) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a ...

. The mountain is an obstacle to the

trade winds The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...

leading to a very high humidity resulting in an abundance of plant- and animal life. The northern streams of the mountain flow into the Angélique Creek, the southern streams feed the Kaw and

Mahury The Mahury is an extended estuary of French Guiana southeast of Cayenne. It reaches inland from the Atlantic Ocean, where it becomes known as the Oyak Ordu Yardımlaşma Kurumu (OYAK) (''lit. Military Mutual Aid Institution''), is a Turkish c ...

River. The mountain is located near the

Kaw-Roura Marshland Nature Reserve The Kaw-Roura Marshland Nature Reserve ( French: ''Réserve naturelle nationale des marais de Kaw-Roura'') is a nature reserve in French Guiana, France. The reserve is a wetland, and can only be accessed by boat from Kaw. Overview The Kaw-Roura ...

. On 12 February 2010, the

General Council of French Guiana The General Council of French Guiana ( French: ''Conseil général de la Guyane'') was the deliberative executive assembly of the French Department of French Guiana. (French Guiana was also a French region, with a Regional Council, the Regional C ...

voted to protect the mountain and surrounding area as the Trésor Regional Nature Reserve.

References

Mountains of French Guiana Roura {{SouthAm-mountain-stub