Authors / CoAuthors
Dow, D.B. | Smit, J.A.J. | Bain, J.H.C. | Ryburn, R.J.
Abstract
The northern fall of the Central Range, the largest unexplored area in New Guinea (Fig. 1), separates the swampy Sepik Plain in the north from the high dissected plateau forming the backbone of New Guinea to the south. The whole region is rugged and covered by tropical rain forest; it is almost uninhabited, and as there are few tracks, the long meandering southern tributaries of the Sepik River provide the only practicable access. The South Sepik region occupies a small segment of the fundamental break separating the stable Australian continental block from the oceanic crust to the north. This break, which is marked in the South Sepik region by the Lagaip Fault Zone, has had a profound effect on sedimentation in the region throughout the geological record: shelf-type sediments were laid down on the continental block, while geosynclinal sediments were being deposited to the north. The oldest rocks are Middle and Upper Triassic in age and include a widespread and distinctive volcanic unit called the Kana Volcanics. They are succeeded unconformably by a thick sequence of black pyritic shale (Lagaip Beds), which was laid down south of the Lagaip Fault Zone during the Jurassic and Cretaceous.
Product Type
document
eCat Id
128
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Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
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Keywords
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- GA PublicationBulletin
- ( Theme )
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- geology
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- AU-QLD
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Earth Sciences
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- Published_External
Publication Date
1972-01-01T00:00:00
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unknown
Topic Category
geoscientificInformation
Series Information
Bulletin 133
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Unknown
Parent Information
Extents
[-6.0, -4.0, 141.0, 144.0]
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