Le karst de la forêt pluvieuse des monts Nakanaï. Nouvelle Bretagne. Papouasie Nouvelle Guinée. Rapport préliminaire de l'expédition spéléologique française (The karst of the M. Nakanai cloud forest (New Guinea))

Abstract

Abstract. - The karsts of New Britain are, as the large limestone areas of the south folded ranges (Highlands), the biggest karstic regions in P.N.G. They are distributed in three main zones : the Raulei Range in the north (800 km²), the Nakanai Mountains in the center (5 500 km²) and the Whiteman Range in the west (6 000 km²). Almost unknown till these last years, the Nakanaî Mountains appear like an extraordinary pattern of rain forest karst, consequently of a karstic morphology with a quick evolution under hot and very wet climate (P = 6 000-10 000 mm /year).