Location Quảng Nam comprises flat land along the coast and increasingly high elevations towards the west, with the highest elevations along the border to
Laos and
Kon Tum province. The highest peak is
Ngọc Linh mountain at 2598m. In contrast to the other provinces of the
South Central Coast there are no hills or mountains near the coast (with the exception of the
Chàm Islands with a peak of 517m). Quang Nam Province is located in the South Central Coast region of Central Vietnam, 820 km south of Hanoi, 235 km south of
Hue City, bordering
Da Nang City in the North and 900 km north of Ho Chi Minh City by National Highway 1A, with the following geographical location: The northwest borders
Hue city. The northeast borders
Da Nang city. The southwest borders
Kon Tum province. The southeast borders
Quang Ngai province. The west borders
Sekong province of
Laos country. The east borders the
South China Sea. The provincial capital of Quang Nam is located in Tam Ky City, with the ancient town of Hoi An. Quang Nam is located between Hanoi City and Ho Chi Minh City by National Highway 1A and Ho Chi Minh Road. Quang Nam Province has an area of , the 6th largest in Vietnam.
Terrain The terrain gradually decreases from west to east and is divided into 3 regions: the western mountainous region, the midland in the middle and the eastern coastal plain. Quang Nam is located in the tropical monsoon climate zone, the average annual temperature is above 25 °C, the average annual rainfall is 2,000-2,500mm with more than 70% concentrated in the 3 rainy months (October, November and December). Vu Gia - Thu Bon and Tam Ky are the two main river basins in Quang Nam. In general, the natural conditions of Quang Nam (weather-climate, terrain, water resources, sea) have many advantages and potentials for the development of diverse and unique cultural careers (developing cultural sub-regions), developing tourism (cultural tourism, eco-tourism). Quang Nam has a terrain direction that gradually slopes from west to east, forming 3 distinct ecological landscapes: the western high mountains, the midland in the middle and the coastal plain. The mountainous area accounts for 72% of the natural area with many peaks over 2,000m high such as Lum Heo mountain at 2,045m high, Tion mountain at 2,032m high, Gole - Lang mountain at 1,855m high (Phuoc Son district). Ngoc Linh mountain at 2,598m high lies between the border of Quang Nam and Kon Tum, the highest peak of the Truong Son range. In addition, the coastal area east of the Truong Giang river is a long stretch of sand dunes running from Dien Ngoc, Dien Ban to Tam Quang, Nui Thanh. The terrain surface is divided by a fairly developed river system including the Thu Bon river, Tam Ky river and Truong Giang river. Quang Nam has a 125 km long coastline, with many beautiful and famous beaches such as: Ha My (Dien Ban), Cua Dai (Hoi An), Binh Minh (Thang Binh), Tam Thanh (Tam Ky), Bai Rang (Nui Thanh),... Cu Lao Cham is a cluster of coastal islands with a rich ecosystem recognized as a world biosphere reserve.
Climate Quang Nam is located in a tropical climate zone, with only two seasons: rainy season and dry season, influenced by the cold winter of the North. The average annual temperature is 25.6 °C. In winter, the temperature in the plains can drop below 12 °C and the temperature in the mountains is even lower. The average humidity in the air is 84%. The average rainfall is 2000-2500mm. The rainy season usually lasts from October to December, the dry season lasts from February to August, January and September are transitional months characterized by turbulent weather and a lot of rain. Rain is unevenly distributed in space, with more rain in the mountains than in the plains. The Northwest region in the Bung River basin (Dong Giang, Tay Giang and Nam Giang districts) has the lowest rainfall, while the Southwest mountainous region in the Thu Bon River basin (Nam Tra My, Bac Tra My, Tien Phuoc and Hiep Duc districts) has the highest rainfall. Tra My is one of the largest rainfall centers in Vietnam with an average annual rainfall exceeding 4,000 mm. Heavy rains are concentrated in a short period of time during the 3-month rainy season on a narrow, steep terrain, creating favorable conditions for rapid river flooding. There are currently two meteorological stations in the province that have monitored all meteorological factors for a long time (starting from 1976), namely Tam Ky station and Tra My station. Tam Ky station located in Hoa Thuan ward, Tam Ky city is used to calculate relevant meteorological factors for the eastern plain of the province. Tra My station located in Tra My town, Bac Tra My district is used to calculate relevant meteorological factors for the western mountainous region of the province.
Hydrology Quang Nam has two large river systems: Vu Gia - Thu Bon (VG-TB) and Tam Ky. The VG-TB basin area (including a part of the basin in Kon Tum, Quang Ngai, Da Nang city) is 10,350 km², one of the 10 river systems with the largest basin area in Vietnam and the Tam Ky river basin is 735 km². The rivers originate from the eastern slope of the Truong Son range, flowing mainly in the West-East direction and emptying into the East Sea at the Han estuary (Da Nang), Dai estuary (Hoi An) and An Hoa (Nui Thanh). In addition to the two river systems above, the Truong Giang river is 47 km long, flowing along the coast in the North-South direction connecting the VG-TB and Tam Ky river systems. Due to the steep terrain and heavy rainfall, the river network of Quang Nam province is quite dense. The average river density is 0.47 km/km² for the VG-TB system and 0.6 km/km² for other river systems. The rivers have large flow rates, full of water all year round. Flow rates The average annual flow of the Vu Gia River (up to Thanh My town with a basin area of 1,850 km²) is 127 m³/s, and of the Thu Bon River (up to Nong Son with a basin area of 3,130 km²) is 281 m³/s. The flow regime of rivers has clear seasonal differences. The flow in the 3 months of the flood season (October, November, December) accounts for 65 - 70% of the total annual flow while the flow in the dry season (from February to August) is very low. January and September are transitional months with erratic flow. The maximum flow of the Thu Bon River at Nong Son is 10,600 m³/s and the minimum measured flow is 15.7 m³/s while the maximum flow of the Vu Gia River at Thanh My is 4,540 m³/s and the minimum is 10.5 m³/s. High flow in the rainy season and low flow in the dry season are the main causes of floods and droughts in the region. Abundant water resources are the premise for hydropower development in the area. As of 2015, Quang Nam has 8 large-capacity hydropower projects (over 100 MW) and 35 small-capacity hydropower plants. Many large-capacity hydropower plants such as Song Tranh 2, Dak Mi 4, A Vuong, Song Bung 2, Song Bung 4, Song Kon 2... have been and are being built, contributing to the increasing electricity supply demand of the whole country.
Land According to statistics and land inventory on January 1, 2010, in the total natural area of 1,043,836 ha, agricultural land accounts for 798,790 ha, non-agricultural land is 87,765 ha and unused land is 157,281 ha. The total natural area of Quang Nam is 1,043,803 ha, formed from nine different types of soil including sand dunes and coastal sandy soil, river alluvial soil, marine alluvial soil, gray-fertile soil, red-yellow soil, valley soil, eroded and barren soil, etc. The riverside alluvial soil group is the most important soil group in the development of food crops, foodstuffs and short-term industrial crops. The red-yellow soil group in mountainous areas is favorable for planting forests, industrial crops and long-term fruit trees. The coastal sandy soil group is being exploited for aquaculture purposes.
Forest Quang Nam province has 425,921 hectares of forest, with a coverage rate of 40.9%; the province's timber reserves are about 30 million m3. The area of natural forest is 388,803 ha, and planted forest is 37,118 ha. Rich forests in Quang Nam currently have about 10 thousand hectares, distributed on high mountain peaks, the remaining forest area is mainly poor forest, medium forest and regenerating forest, with timber reserves of about 69 m3/ha. Nature reserves in the province are located on the Thanh River in Nam Giang district. In April 2011, Quang Nam provincial authorities established the Saola Nature Reserve, opening a corridor for mountain creatures between Laos and Vietnam, especially the endangered saola. Evergreen broadleaf tropical forests are the dominant ecosystem in Quang Nam. Quang Nam is a province with rich forest potential, but due to overexploitation over a long period of time, the area of primary forest is still small. The promotion of forestation in recent years has increased the forest area of Quang Nam to more than 55% in 2014. This is one of the localities with the highest forest area in the country. Thanh River Special-Use Forest is the largest conservation area in the province, where wildlife in the Central Truong Son region is being preserved. Ngoc Linh ginseng is a precious medicinal plant distributed mainly at an altitude of over 2,000 m on
Ngoc Linh mountain. ==Administrative divisions==