Mekong Delta :

Hydrology

Geology

Vegetation

Soil Type

Climate

Human Activity

Land forms

The landscape comprised of mountains, highlands, plateaus, deep narrow river valleys separated by steep and very abrupt ridges, broad low lying almost featureless flood plains and the Mekong Delta.

Geology captured by topographic maps and satellite images.


Resources

Metallic : gold, copper, lead, zinc, phosphate, potash

Non-metallic : oil and gas, coal, gemstone (principally corundum, including rubies and sapphires)


(ASS) acid sulphate soils-1 590 000 ha
Saline and potential acid sulphate soils-1 080 000 ha
Alluvial soils-1 100 000 ha
Suitable for industrial trees, food trees and food crops
Mountainous and hilly soil: Acrisols, Ferralsols, and Alisol.
Mountainous and hilly soils should be reserved for afforestation, and fruit crops with appropriate protection measures
Silty
Plinthosols group
Luvisols group
Histosols group
Fluvisols group
Arenosols group
Gleysols group
Leptosols group
Albeluvisols group


The 5 main stations of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam are Tan Chau, My Thuan, Chau Doc, Can Tho, Vam Nao. Tan Chau and Chau Doc are the 2 Main International Water Resources Management Stations in Mekong Delta.
From March to May is the dry season in Mekong Delta which allows saltwater from the sea to intrude into the Mekong branches which will cause salinity intrusion (saltwater interferes with fresh water will affect farming activities and agriculture development). April is the highest concern.
The variation of water levels in Tan Chau and Chau Doc from July- December (wet season). During wet season, the flood flow from upstream Mekong countries and the tide from the South China East will strongly affect the water levels in Tan Chau and Chau Doc.


Fruits:
Bananas
Mangosteens
Longans
Mangos
Vinafruit - a national body representing processing, exporting and trading companies is working to develop export markets.


The economy of Mekong Delta is mainly agricultural.
Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry account for 41% of Mekong Delta’s GDP in 2011.
Most of the industries and services are input supply, processing, trade and transport of agricultural product industries


Rice:
An Giang, Can Tho, and Dong Thap are major rice producing provinces
Rice growing area of these provinces remained stable since 2008.
Rice production increased by 2.9% per year
Total planted area in 2012 was 1.341 million hectares
70% of rice production is for export and 30% is for domestic use.

The climate of Mekong Delta is influenced by the Southwest Monsoon.
The monsoon season usually lasts from May to late September/early October.
Usually heavy rainfall in most regions
August, September, and October are the wettest month in most areas (tropical cyclones)
In late October to December, the temperatures are cooler due to the Northeast monsoon.
During this monsoon, Vietnam still receives rainfall
Rainfall
July, August, and September = generally months of highest rainfall in most regions
December, January, and February = months of lowest rainfall
Average annual rainfall is 1700mm during drought years, the annual rainfall in some regions can be as low as 650mm
Tropical cyclones
Years of above average cyclones = wider impacts on the rainfall climate
Cyclone years become wetter than normal years
Over most of Lower Delta, during the tropical cyclone years, the chance that any given day will be wet is very high.
Southwest Monsoons combined with severe tropical cyclones can cause flood disasters in the Lower Mekong.
Climate Change Effects
Lower mean annual flows and floods
Seasonal distribution of water stays the same
Flood season volumes decrease by 15 percent


Aquaculture

Tourism

Agriculture

Refinery

Annual income: 562,500 vnd per person/month.
Exporting rice to develop the economy.
Mekong Delta rice market is 50-60% of Vietnam’s total rice export.


Mekong Delta is rich in aquatic resources and has high potential for aquaculture development. It is the most productive area for freshwater
954,350 ha of water bodies (67.2% fresh water)
The Mekong has 75% of aquaculture production of Vietnam.
Shrimp farming is rapidly developing


Tien Giang province invests 430 billion vnd to develop tourism in 2014.
Mekong Delta has a beautiful landscape and attractive features for tourism. (mountains, highlands, rivers)
11 million tourists in 2014 = earning more than 2.56 trillion VND
Foreign tourists reached more than 803 000
Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Tien Giang and Long An provinces saw the biggest growth in tourist arrivals during the period.
By the year 2020, the southern region is expected to welcome >6 million international visitors and about 34 million locals, earn up to VND170 trillion (US$7.6 billion) from tourism services.
Almost 90,000 travellers of the UK's famous newspaper, the Telegraph, have voted Viet Nam among the top 20 most impressive destinations in the world.

The Can Tho city in Mekong decided to put an oil refinery project in May 2008 with expectation to produce 2 million tons of oil products per year, but the project was delayed for a few years which axed $538 million.
The Refinery Chemical Plant and Petroleum Storage with 1000 ha
The Refinery with 600.000 barrel crude oil per day that will supply for Asian market and chemical goods such as urea will meet Mekong Delta provinces more than one million tons per year.
However, due to delay, Vietnam ends crude oil refinery project in Mekong Delta in November 2016. This is 2nd project to be cancelled in Vietnam this year.