Abstract

The tectonically active islands of the Indo-Pacific Archipelago deliver much sediment to the ocean margins. In the Gulf of Papua on the south coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG), the chemical composition of surface sediment from grab samples indicates that Fly River muds are dispersed to the north and east, where they are joined by sediment plumes from the other large rivers along the south coast of PNG. This is the likely source of terrestrial sediment on the Papuan Plateau and the northern Coral Sea Abyssal Plain. The sediment is transported through submarine troughs and canyons offshore, far to the east of the riverine inputs. Immediately south and 30–50 km offshore from the Fly and Purari deltas is a platform of algal and reef carbonate materials, containing little or no terrestrial surface sediment.

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