Thorn Tree Posts Postcards Scoop Articles Related Weblinks Environment East Timor is made up of the eastern half of the island of Timor, which lies at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago, to the north of Australia. Once part of the Australian continental shelf, Timor only fully emerged from the ocean some four million years ago, and is therefore comprised mainly of marine sediment, principally limestone.
Coastal plains are narrow, and there are no major highland valleys or significant rivers.
The mix of rocky soil and low rainfall makes agriculture difficult, resulting in food and water shortages in the dry season. East Timor has extreme wet and dry seasons. From May to November, the north coast receives virtually no rain, causing agricultural activity to all but cease. The cooler central mountains and south coast get an occasional shower during this time, and are greener as a result. Everything turns green when the wet comes, but the rains often turn to floods and the dry-season rivers of dust become torrents.