Tectonic geomorphology and Holocene uplift rates of the Lae Urban Area, Papua New Guinea  

Authors / CoAuthors

Clark, D. J. | Griffin, J. | Espy, J. | Jonda, L. | Cummins, P. | Ghasemi, H.

Abstract

<div>The city of Lae is Papua New Guinea (PNG)’s second largest, and is the home of PNG’s largest port. Here, a convergence rate of ~50 mm/yr between the South Bismarck Plate and the Australian Plate is accommodated across the Ramu-Markham Fault Zone (RMFZ). The active structures of the RMFZ are relatively closely spaced to the west of Lae. However, the fault zone bifurcates immediately west of the Lae urban area, with one strand continuing to the east, and a second strand trending southeast through Lae City and connecting to the Markham Trench within the Huon Gulf. </div><div>The geomorphology of the Lae region relates to the interaction between riverine (and limited marine) deposition and erosion, and range-building over low-angle thrust faults of the RMFZ. Flights of river terraces imply repeated tectonic uplift events; dating of these terraces will constrain the timing of past earthquakes and associated recurrence intervals. Terrace riser heights are typically on the order of 3 m, indicating causative earthquake events of greater than magnitude 7. </div><div>Future work will expose the most recently active fault traces in trenches to assess single event displacements, and extend the study to the RMFZ north of Nadzab Airport. These results will inform a seismic hazard and risk assessment for Lae city and surrounding region.</div> Presented at the 2023 Australian Earthquake Engineering Society (AEES) Conference

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document

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148842

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Keywords

theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf

• Structural geology and tectonics

( {1} )

• seismic hazard

( {1} )

• tectonic geomorphology

( {1} )

• paleoseismology

( {1} )

• Lae

( {1} )

• Pacific Nations

( {1} )

• Hazard Response

( {1} )

• Natural Hazards

( {1} )

• earthquakes

( {1} )

• Papua New Guinea - PNG

( {1} )

• Published_External

Publication Date

2024-03-21T00:07:10

Creation Date

2023-09-03T12:00:00

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Australian Government Security Classification System    

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

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completed

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Product developed for the Australian earthquake Engineering Society 2023 annual meeting, 23-25 November, Brisbane.

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asNeeded

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geoscientificInformation

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Australian Earthquake Engineering Society (AEES) Conference, 23-25 November 2023, Brisbane, QLD

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<div>Document to be distributed for internal and external review, then published at the conference.</div>

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[-11.636, -1.3464, 140.85, 155.97]

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