Geographical and Railway Features of Demodara and Namunukula, Sri Lanka

CONTINOUS ASSIGNMENT ONE
“GROUP PHOTO GALLERY ON THE FIELD VISIT”
GEOGRAPHY IN TRANSPORT
TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT
UNIVERSITY of MORATUWA
14th BATCH
HASHAN RAHUBADDHA
141456X

INTRODUCTION OF THE PHOTO GALLERY
A journey to reach the pinnacles of cloudy mountains with an eternal spread of green silk
below them, miniature waterfalls and endless valleys with the sublime touch of nature’s
wonders. Voyage on the man-made bridges, railways and through the dark tunnels in
search of the light of wisdom in the perspectives of Geography.
The following photographs were taken on the field observation visit to Demodara and
Namunukula on 11th and 12th of August 2015 conducted by the department of Transport and
Logistic Management of University of Moratuwa for the level one students. Only the
photographs with a geographical significance are attached and All the photographs
were taken by the group members .
Every photo is displayed under a specific theme and described below relating to its
geographical features.

1.RIDGES, GULLIES AND SPURS
#PHOTO 1

#photo 1 description
Venue Haputhale mountain range
Geographical features In this mountain range, four geographical features can be
easily identified. The most significant is the Ridge line
which is the long area of highlands, are common features
in a chain of mountains or hills, which are connected with
each other by a ridge. Other three geographical features are
spur, gully and summit.
#PHOTO 2

#photo 2 description
Venue Namunukula mountain range seen from Uva
Management Development Institute
Geographical features In this mountain range too spurs, ridgeline and gullies
are visible. Gulley is a small strip valley, usually
formed by a lot of rain water following down. As shown
in the picture the contours of the gully are have the “v”
shape with point of “v” pointing towards the peak.

#PHOTO 4
Geographical features In this mountain range there’s a clear peak which is
known as the summit.
#Photo 3 description

Venue A Mountain seen from the Sping Valley
Geographical features In this mountain, spurs and gullies are visible.
It’s a very much norm to see the both in the same
mountain as most of the times the two go with each
other. Spur is a lateral piece of land which is projecting
from mountain or mountain ridge. Spurs mostly provide
access for roads and walkers etc

#PHOTO 5
Venue A Mountain Range seen from Uva Management
Institute
Geographical features On the 21st
morning, we able to watch a glorious sun
rise over this mountain range where the ridges and
summits can be easily recognized. No need to say where
the East side is.

#PHOTO 6
Venue A Mountain Range seen from Uva Management
Development Institute
Geographical features The nearest mountain has a gentle slope where the tea is
grown along with many other crops. There’s also an
electricity transmitting tower since the slope is gradual.
The mountain other side there’s clear ridge.

3.VALLEY
#PHOTO 8
Venue Haputale Mountain Range
Geographical features A saddle is situated in between two hills or mountains, it
differs from a valley because unlike the valley after one
mountains slope ends, slope of the other mountains
begins upwards.

#PHOTO 9
Venue Demodara
Geographical features There’s a valley where a factory has being built in
between the two hills and also there’s a river flowing
beside. A river running along a valley is a norm in the
geography. There’re clear spurs and gullies on the hill
while man made steep slope can also be seen.

#PHOTO 10
Venue Spring Valley
Geographical features Most of the upcountry residences are situated on the
valleys since it’s easier to build a house on flat land such
as valley than on land with a slope.
So in this picture it can be seen many houses are built in
the valley and less houses are built in the gentle slopes
and no houses as the steep become higher.

#PHOTO 11
Geographical features It is easy to identify valleys in this part of the country
since there are many mountains range with gullies and
spurs run from the ridge lines to valley bottom.

#PHOTO 12
Venue Spring Valley
Geographical features Surrounded by the tea coated mountains the valley lies
in between the two hills with a gentle slope.
Geographical features Beside the mountain range there lies large valley with
numerous lakes

#PHOTO 13
Venue Spring Valley
Geographical features Spring valley is known for three things. Tea, Springs and Valley.
As the name suggest the whole area is full of valley surrounded by
the mountains with tea coats. And the people have built houses in
the valley as circled by pink, avoiding the risk of building houses
on the slope of mountains and peaks since these areas are highly
prone to earth slips.

5. PLANTATIONS
#PHOTO 15 #PHOTO 16
Venue Haputale Mountain Region
Geographical features Plateau is a flat land situated on high land often
surrounded slopes. Here in this picture there’s plateau
with a slope by its side which leads to a valley.

#PhotoS 15, 16 descriptions
Photo 15 Photo 16
This photo was taken before we pass the
Ratnapura closer to the western province
where the land is flat and the paddy is
grown in a traditional low land cultivation
The photo was taken after passing Rathnapura
where the slope is become gradually steep.
Here the slope is gentle, yet the paddy is grown
with the measures to avoid soil erosion using
contour drains. This type of cultivation is
unique for the hill country.
#PHOTO 17

Venue Tea estate, Haputale
Geographical features This photo was taken in a mountainous area where the
slope is steep. As shown by the drawing it’s clear that the
cultivators has taken several measures to make sure to
avoid the soil erosion so the soil won’t become fertile.
A berm is a level space, shelf, separating
two areas with a slope and it helps to avoid the erosion of
the top soil along the steeper surfaces. Here the berm is
also used as a road.

6.CONIFEROUS FORESTS
#PHOTOS 18, 19

#PHOTO 20
Venue Spring Valley
Geographical features Coniferous forest are made of many tree species such as
pine, Cyprus, eucalyptus etc. It has got his name from its
common corn shape and it was introduced to Sri Lanka
during the colonial era to avoid the soil erosion in the tea
estates. But after it has spread in a vast area sometimes
making it a hazard since coniferous forests do not sustain
a lower level plantain because of the density of the forest
low level of sunlight coming in and the trees itself takes a
lot of nutrition out of the soil which make it infertile.
#Photos 18, 19 description

7.SOIL EROSION
#PHOTO 21
Geographical features This photo shows the burned down coniferous forest.
Coniferous forests are naturally prone to wild fire in
order to sustain the ecology system in balance. But
sometimes men set them fire with precautions to
cultivate plantation in those are. The ash that falls from
the burning of the trees fall to the ground making it
fertile.

#PHOTO 22
Geographical features It’s clearly evident that top layer of the mountain has
washed off and only the rocks remaining. Such erosion
can happen in the steeper areas of the mountains because
the velocity of water flowing is high.
#Photos 21 description

#PHOTO 23, 24
Venue Spring Valley
Geographical features
Because of the cleared vegetation and deforestation
and lesser number of tea cultivation as it has shown by
the picture the erosion process has taken and a gully
has been formed. If a gully is created through the soil
erosion the process itself is called “gully erosion”

#Photos 23,24 description
Venue Spring Valley
It’s clearly evident that in these two pictures the soil
has eroded leaving the rocks while where there is tea
plantations no such rocks can be seen. This clearly
shows when there’s deforestation or and lesser
vegetation soil erosion can be severe.

#PHOTO 25,26
• More photos depicting the severe soil erosion in the Spring Valley due to its
steeper slopes. This is a common hazard for all the hill country.

#Photos 27,28 description
Venue Ella and Haputhale
Although there’s vegetation in these lands the earth
slips have occurred due to the 90 degrees angle it holds
with the road. When there’s slope the soil is eroded
without the plantation but if the slope is perpendicular
then the earth slips can occur when there’s heavy rain.

8.PRECAUTIONS FOR THE SOIL EROSION
#PHOTO 29

#PHOTO 30
Venue Spring valley - Namunukula
Stone ridge has been built by the men in order to
protect the soil from eroding. These kind of ridges are
common in the upcountry areas where the tea is grown.

#PHOTO 31
Venue Spring valley
Girls are sitting on a stone ridge in the spring valley
and as it’s evident that although the slope is steeper the
soil is protected by the stone ridge.

#PHOTO 32
Venue Haputale
Specially in the tea plantation they take several
measures to avoid the soil erosion. As you can see in
the picture contour drains and berm are used while also
using the leader drains, which are built to avoid the
gully erosion. They are built as stair on the naturally
occurring drainages and help to water to flaw naturally
rather than on the soil carrying the outer layer of it.

9.DRAINAGE LINES (DRAWS)
#PHOTO 33
Geographical features As you can see a clear cut by the road and it’s not
perpendicular to the road but it has carved as a contour
drains or as berms to avoid the soil erosion of the
slope.

10.RIVERS
#PHOTOS 34 & 35
Venue Kottegoda
Geographical features Draws can be easily identified since its contours have a
v shape which the v points at the peak of the hill. And
they are different from the valleys since valleys run
parallel to the ridge while draws run perpendicular.

#Photos 34 & 35 description
10.CUTS
#PHOTOS 36 & 37
Venue Demodara Railway bridge, Badulu oya
Geographical features Along the valley created by two hills aside there flows
a river and to maintain the contour line with the main
railway there has been built a bridge over the river.

10.VIADUCTS
#PHOTOS 38, 39 & 40
Venue Haputale , Ella
Geographical features These types of geographical features are called cuts.
To do construction hills are cut according to the
requirement. Usually it is used to build up a road or
railway following contour lines.
The road in the 36th
photo was made by cutting a slope.
And in the 37th
photo to maintain the contour line in
the railway there’s a cut being made.
Venue Haputale , Ella

#Photos 38, 39 & 40 description
#PHOTOS 41 & 42
Venue Demodara Nine Arch Bridge
Geographical features Viaduct means a chain of bridges or long bridge,
supported by a chain of aches or on spans among tall
towers. The purpose of viaduct is to maintain a same
level of road or railway. Mostly these are used to carry
a road or railway over a valley or another road.
This viaduct is called ‘nine arch bridge’. Viaduct was
built up between two railway stations Ella and
Demodara in Sri Lanka. It is located 3100 feet above
the sea level. The height of this bridge is 99.6 ft. This
bridge is built without using a single piece of steel.

#PHOTOS 43
Venue Demodara Railway bridge
Geographical features This bridge is built to maintain the maintain a same
level railway over the Badulu Oya and people who
travel on foot also uses it for their day to day purposes.

11. TUNNELS
#PHOTOS 44, 45, 46 ,47 & 48
Venue Ella
Geographical features This is very special bridge(tunnel). The railway line is
run above the highway. To maintain a same level the
railway was elevated.

#Photos 44, 45, 46, 47 & 48 description
11. ROADS ALIGNED WITH CONTOURS
#PHOTOS 49 & 50
Venue Ella - Demodara
Geographical features Underground passages are called tunnels. These
tunnels are used for trains, automobiles, mountain or
harbors. These are made by digging surround rocks,
earth or rock.
These tunnels are situated between Demodara railway
station and Ella railway station. This tunnel was made
to construct the railway according to the contour lines.
And according to the photos each and every tunnel has
its own numbering system which is very important
when mapping.

#PHOTO 51
Geographical features Roads cannot be constructed in a straight line though it
will be easier for the commuter if it gets done. But if
the road gets straight it faces a steeper slope where
some vehicles may find it harder to climb. So the road
builders are following the contour lines to grant a less
steep slope in a way that it does not need so much
power to climb up the hill, although making the
journey a bit longer. So following the contours there
can be a lot of bends with a deeper slope beside the
road.

12. SPECIAL FEATURES IN RAILWAYS AND
ROADS
#PHOTOS 52 & 53
Venue Spring Valley, Badulla
Geographical features By looking at this photograph it’s evident that the
roads are constructed aligned to the same elvetaion
contours.

#PHOTO 54
Venue Lellopitaiya
Geographical features There’s extra lane built in this part with a wider road to
overtake the other vehicle.

#PHOTO 55
Venue Ella railway station
Geographical features Railways were always constructed according to
contour lines.
Therefore there are number of bends along railways
and roads. When train is going along this line, because
of center fugal force train tries to fall inward. To avoid
from that, two rail lines are used as the picture given
above. These lines are not allowed wheel to break
connection with rail line.

#PHOTO 56, 57, 58, 59 & 60
Venue Ella
Geographical features There’s an unusual rail crossing in this photograph,
and one of the rail way is running towards a hill while
the other one is running as usual. This special track is
built to avoid the train collision. If two trains are
running on the same line and about to collide the train
will be averted in to this special rail line so that
damages can be reduced.

#Photo 56, 57, 58, 59 & 60 description
Venue Demodara Railway Station
Geographical features This is the railway loop in Demodara and it’s know as
“looping to loop”. This is located in Uva province. Sri
Lanka. This is a one of a unique railway line in Sri
Lanka. It goes directly under the railway station
through a tunnel and reaches to the Demodara railway
station following the gradual contours thus reducing its
journey distance.

Geographical and Railway Features of Demodara and Namunukula, Sri Lanka

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Geographical and Railway Features of Demodara and Namunukula, Sri Lanka