Northeastern Papua Research Articles

Rotations in the actively colliding Finisterre Arc Terrane: paleomagnetic constraints on Plio-Pleistocene evolution of the South Bismarck microplate, northeastern Papua New Guinea

We report paleomagnetic results from 12 Plio-Pleistocene localities in the actively colliding Finisterre Arc Terrane of northeastern Papua New Guinea (PNG). Calcareous, hemipelagic cover rocks possess a stable, syn-collisional remagnetization indicating a clockwise rotation of the colliding terrane through about 40° in post-Miocene time. A decrease in paleomagnetic declination anomalies as a function of along-strike distance in the Finisterre Arc Terrane, analyzed by our preferred model of a linear remagnetization and a migrating Euler pole, suggests an average rotation rate of 8° Ma −1, in good agreement with the instantaneous rate from global positioning system geodesy. Thus, we propose that this rotation results from a coherent, rigid-body rotation of the Finisterre Terrane rather than from sequential docking of independently colliding blocks of the terrane. Moreover, we conclude that these paleomagnetic declinations result mainly from South Bismarck Plate motion, and not decoupled rotation of the crustal terrane independent of the underlying lithosphere. We examine models of a syn-collisional remagnetization with both fixed and migrating Euler poles of South Bismarck/Australia plate relative motion, and suggest that the Euler pole describing South Bismarck Plate motion has migrated southwestward to its present location on the collision suture in response to the propagating collision. This plate kinematic model agrees with the variability in depth of the seismogenic slab beneath the collision zone. Our best-fit model of pole migration describes South Bismarck/Australia relative motion producing a highly oblique collision in its early stages, with the Finisterre Arc Terrane converging along a left-lateral Ramu-Markham suture, gradually changing to the nearly orthogonal convergence observed today.

Comparisons of ESR ages of corals using different signals at X- and Q-band:: Re-examinations of corals from Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea

ESR ages of corals were compared to assess the validity of different dating techniques. Ten coral samples from the Huon Peninsula of north-eastern Papua New Guinea, previously dated by alpha spectrometric and mass spectrometric uranium-series methods (Grün et al., 1992; Omura et al., 1994), were selected for investigation. The ESR spectra were recorded at X- and Q-band, before and after annealing at 150°C for 14 h, with low and high microwave powers. The D E -values based on the g=2.0007 signal were not significantly affected by microwave power and preheating treatment. The D E -values based on the g=2.0058 signal after annealing appear to be comparable to those based on the g=2.0007 signal, and both sets of corresponding ESR ages are broadly in agreement with the uranium-series ages.

Paleomagnetic evidence for rapid vertical‐axis rotations during thrusting in an active collision zone, northeastern Papua New Guinea

A paleomagnetic study of three thrust sheets of the fold and thrust belt north of the Ramu‐Markham Fault Zone (RMFZ) indicates very rapid vertical‐axis rotations, with differential declination anomalies related to tectonic transport of thrust units. Data from this investigation indicate depositional ages straddling the Brunhes‐Matuyama reversal (780 ka) for the Leron Formation in Erap Valley. Net counterclockwise, vertical‐axis rotations as great as 90° since 1 Ma have occurred locally in the Erap Valley area. These rotations appear to be kinematically related to shear across a tear fault within the foreland fold and thrust belt of the colliding Finisterre Arc, which in turn is aligned with and may be structurally controlled by a major fault in the lower plate. These data indicate that vertical‐axis rotations occurred during thrusting; consequently, the actual rotation rate is likely several times higher than the calculated minimum rate. Such very rapid rotations during thrust sheet emplacement may be more common in fold and thrust belts than is presently recognized. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility data yields foliated fabrics with subordinate, well‐grouped lineations that differ markedly in azimuth in the three thrust sheets. The susceptibility lineations are rendered parallel by the same bedding‐perpendicular rotations used to restore the paleomagnetic remanence to N‐S thus independently confirming the rapid rotations. The restored lineations are perpendicular to the direction of tectonic transport, and the minimum susceptibility axes are streaked perpendicular to the lineation. We interpret these anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility data as primary sedimentary fabrics modified by weak strain accompanying foreland thrusting.

PNG Transect 1998–2001

We report paleomagnetic results from 12 Plio-Pleistocene localities in the actively colliding Finisterre Arc Terrane of northeastern Papua New Guinea (PNG). Calcareous, hemipelagic cover rocks possess a stable, syn-collisional remagnetization indicating a clockwise rotation of the colliding terrane through about 40° in post-Miocene time. A decrease in paleomagnetic declination anomalies as a function of along-strike distance in the Finisterre Arc Terrane, analyzed by our preferred model of a linear remagnetization and a migrating Euler pole, suggests an average rotation rate of 8° Ma−1, in good agreement with the instantaneous rate from global positioning system geodesy. Thus, we propose that this rotation results from a coherent, rigid-body rotation of the Finisterre Terrane rather than from sequential docking of independently colliding blocks of the terrane. Moreover, we conclude that these paleomagnetic declinations result mainly from South Bismarck Plate motion, and not decoupled rotation of the crustal terrane independent of the underlying lithosphere. We examine models of a syn-collisional remagnetization with both fixed and migrating Euler poles of South Bismarck/Australia plate relative motion, and suggest that the Euler pole describing South Bismarck Plate motion has migrated southwestward to its present location on the collision suture in response to the propagating collision. This plate kinematic model agrees with the variability in depth of the seismogenic slab beneath the collision zone. Our best-fit model of pole migration describes South Bismarck/Australia relative motion producing a highly oblique collision in its early stages, with the Finisterre Arc Terrane converging along a left-lateral Ramu-Markham suture, gradually changing to the nearly orthogonal convergence observed today.

パプアニューギニア北東部のサンゴ礁段丘の総合研究 造礁サンゴ群集に基づくパプアニューギニア，ヒュオン半島の更新世石灰岩の堆積環境

パプアニューギニア北東部のサンゴ礁段丘の総合研究 造礁サンゴ群集に基づくパプアニューギニア，ヒュオン半島の更新世石灰岩の堆積環境

パプアニューギニア北東部のサンゴ礁段丘の総合研究 パプアニューギニア，ヒュオン半島の現世サンゴ礁に生育する無節サンゴモ

パプアニューギニア北東部のサンゴ礁段丘の総合研究 パプアニューギニア，ヒュオン半島の現世サンゴ礁に生育する無節サンゴモ

パプアニューギニア北東部のサンゴ礁段丘の総合研究 パプアニューギニア，ヒュンオン半島のテクトニックセッティング，地震活動および変動地形 サンゴ礁段丘研究の背景として

This paper summarises the tectonic setting and seismicity of the Huon Peninsula, based on recently published papers. Some characteristic aspects of tectonic geomorphology are also briefly reviewed.The Huon Peninsula on the northeastern Papua New Guinea, located on ca. 6° S, is a suitable place for Quaternary sea level study, because coral reef terraces as an indicator of former sea level position are well preserved as separate terraces on land, due to strong uplift on the collision zone between the Australian and Pacific plate. The plate boundary is traced on land as Ramu-Malkahm Fault Zone. The formation of the Huon-Finisterre Range is a result of the collision of these two plates during the Quaternary. Fault plane solution for the major shallow earthquakes indicates that many of them are by reverse faults, strike of which is perpendicular to the fault zone. Thus, it can be said that the north-south oriented compression has been dominated at this fault zone.A flight of coral terraces, up to ca. 1, 000 m in altitude, fringes the northeastern coast of this tectonically active Huon Peninsula. U-series dates have been obtained from the terraces younger than Terrace VII, correlated with isotope stage 5e of the last interglacial maximum. Terrace height shows the northwestward downtilting, with some irregularity, from the maximum uplift rate of 3.5 m/ka. The uplift rate since the isotope stage 5e agrees with that for the Holocene, implying that the same pattern of tectonic uplift with the uniform rate has continued during the late Quaternary.Rapid uplift of this area is a result of repeated coseismic uplift which has an meter-scale uplift and ka-scale interval. Evidence of the coseismic uplift is obtained from both Holocene terraces and late Pleistocene terraces. Some of large landslides disrupting coral terraces are also originated coseismically. Coseismic process is an important tectonic factor for the formation and emergence and also for the destruction of coral terraces. These topics, related to paleoseismicity, are discussed in detail elsewhere in another papers in this special issue.Some landforms, related to active tectonics, such as active faults, uplifted alluvial deltas, and stream system, are also briefly discussed in the paper.

Arboriculture in the Mussau Islands, Bismarck Archipelago

The Mussau Islanders of the Bismarck Archipelago in northeastern Papua New Guinea cultivate 26 indigenous tree species both for food and non-food uses in tree gardens surrounding the villages. Several trees which volunteer in these arboriculture zones are also tended and encouraged. I present ethnobotanical information on methods of cultivation, how and when the trees are harvested, preparation and use. The tree crop zone has a random spatial distribution overall, but some species within the zone are aggregated spatially. This clumping is related to the restricted habitat requirements of certain species, as well as individual species ’ reproductive traits. Coconut is the most frequent species in the arboriculture zone and is randomly distributed. Vertical stratification is attributable to the presence of a distinct herb layer and a subcanopy stratum of maturePandanus spp. The stratification of some species pairs results from the deliberate planting of subcanopy trees next to canopy trees. The introduction of exotic garden species and the increasing availability of western packaged foods is changing the composition of traditional Mussau Islands tree gardens.

Sex, culture and the anthropologist

The apocalyptic threat of AIDS, combined with recent ethnological developments, is promoting an anthropological "rediscovery of sex." If this rediscovery is to have important and lasting effects on the development of theory, a stock-taking is in order--one which examines anthropology's historical, methodological, and practical relationship to the study of sexual behavior. Parallel theoretical directions taken in both American and British anthropology, starting in the late 1920's, resulted in a disciplinary departure from the study of sexuality, as such; sexual behavior became shielded from analytic view by a more abstract, propositional approach to society and culture. In addition to reviewing these historical trends, the paper considers elements of personal privacy and intrasocietal variation in the anthropology of sex and, with illustrations taken from the Ilahita Arapesh of northeastern Papua New Guinea, proposes that the locus of sexual behavior and experience lies in the interaction of cultural ideas and psychobiological impulses.

The Wandinidae, a new Indo-Pacific family of lysianassoid Amphipoda (Crustacea)

The family Wandinidae is established for Pseudocyphocaris Ledoyer and the new genus Wandin. Both genera are known only from the Indo-Pacific area. The Wandinidae is characterised by a peculiar hook-like process on the peduncle of antenna 2, a conical mouthpart bundle, coxae 1 to 3 variously reduced, coxa 4 greatly enlarged, and a I-articulate outer ramus on uropod 3 with a subapical incision. The Wandinidae is considered to be the sister group of the amary llidid family group. One new species of Wandini is described from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and two new species of Pseudocyphocaris are described from north-eastern Papua New Guinea.

WOMEN'S FACIAL TATTOOING AMONG THE MAISIN OF ORO PROVINCE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA: THE CHANGING SIGNIFICANCE OF AN ANCIENT CUSTOM

The Maisin women of northeastern Papua New Guinea are among the last coastal Papuans to tattoo their faces. This article first describes the techniques and social process of Maisin tattooing. We then examine the resilience of the custom in light of changes in puberty rites and notions of gender. We argue that these contexts have lost their cultural salience as a result of the Maisins' incorporation into the larger Papua New Guinea society. Tattooing has acquired new significance as a marker of cultural identity in a multicultural setting and as a sign of the Maisin people's commercial success as makers of indigenous art.

Type X: description and discussion of a prehistoric ceramic from northeastern Papua New Guinea

Type X: description and discussion of a prehistoric ceramic from northeastern Papua New Guinea

Cheerful pragmatists:Anglican Missionaries among the Maisin of Collingwood Bay, Northeastern Papua, 1898–1920.∗

tions and evangelizing tactics available to individual missionaries within a sin gle mission. Between 1898 and 1920 five Anglican missionaries in succession laboured hard to bring Christianity to Maisin villages along the shores of Col lingwood Bay in northeastern Papua. They were directed by the first two bishops of the mission, each of whom articulated ideals of evangelism which were, for the time, remarkably tolerant of the indigenous culture. Yet the individual mis sionary's style and ability proved very important in a mission possessing no gener al strategy of evangelization. Anglicans in Australia had expressed casual interest in starting a mission in New Guinea, but it was not until Governor William MacGregor invited them to begin work that they considered the idea seriously.1 In 1890 the Rev. Albert Maclaren arrived in Port Moresby to negotiate a comity agreement, under Mac Gregor's auspices, with representatives of other missions.2 Maclaren pledged the Anglicans to evangelize 480 kilometres of north coast from Cape Ducie to the border of German New Guinea. The following year he led a small party to the high plateau of Dogura, overlooking Bartle Bay. The mission suffered many setbacks. Maclaren died of fever within a few months, leaving the mission disorganized, dispirited and starved of funds. Mac Gregor watched the lack of progress with increasing impatience: he supported the missions in principle, and he depended upon them to maintain order and to initiate education and 'civilization'. His thinly veiled threat to invite Roman Catholics into the area provoked a flurry of activity among the Australian sponsors of the venture. In January 1898 they reorganized the mission as a diocese, and elected Montagu John Stone-Wigg its first bishop.

Genetic studies in the Markham Valley, northeastern Papua New Guinea: gamma globulin (Gm and Inv), group specific component (Gc) and ceruloplasmin (Cp) typing.

Genetic studies in the Markham Valley, northeastern Papua New Guinea; Gamma globulin (Gm and Inv), group specific component (Gc) and ceruloplasmin (Cp) typing. M. S. Schanfield, Eugene Giles and H. Gershowitz, Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104. Immunoglobulin allotyping was carried out on 680 serum samples from inhabitants of the Markham Valley, Papua New Guinea (seven villages speaking the same Melanesian [PAP] speaking village). Family and population data verified the presence of Gm-ag, G-ab and Gm-afb among the MN speakers and Gm-ag, Gm-axg, Gm-ab and Gm-afb among the PAP speakers. The frequency of Gm-ag was between 0.048 and 0.235, while the frequency of Gm-ab was between 0.427 and 0.627 and the frequency of Gm-afb ranged between 0.261 and 0.424 among the seven MN villages; the single PAP village had frequencies of 0.568, 0.160, 0.213 and 0.059 for Gm-ag, Gm-axg, Gm-ab and Gm-afb respectively. The frequency of Inv1 ranged between 0.034 and 0.095 in the MN villages and 0.014 in the PAP village. The rare occurrence of Gm(x) without Gm(g) was explained by the presence of a Gm-axfb haplotype, while in two PAP families the presence of Gm(x) without Gm(g) was explained by the abnormally weak expression of Gm(g) in a Gm-axg haplotype. A total of 654 sera were typed for Gc, with the seven MN villages ranging between 0.350 and 0.650 for Gc-1, 0.312 and 0.575 for Gc-2 and between 0.017 and 0.112 for Gc-Ab; the single PAP village had a value of 0.627 for Gc-1, 0.165 for Gc-2 and 0.208 for Gc-Ab. A total of 693 sera were tested for ceruloplasmin type. All showed the common Cp(b) phenotype.

Correlation and stratigraphy of dacitic ash‐fall layers in northeastern Papua

Abstract A thick superficial cover of weathered dacitic ash that mantles the flatter ridge crests on hills and mountains for up to 30 miles (48 km.) from Mount Lamington was derived from this strato‐volcano and thins with distance from it, being about 40 ft (12m.) thick 20 miles (32 km.) away. Its mineralogy is similar to that of the oldest lavas exposed in Mount Lamington crater and to the ash and pumice erupted in 1951. Size distributions of the ash show very good sorting. Inman's coefficient σ⊘, 0–8 to 1–2, and median diameters have a small range, 0.25 ± 0.10 mm. The sorting, mineralogy, and accordance of the layers with the present topography, indicate an ash‐fall origin. Dating of charred wood fragments indicates that the upper ash layers were deposited at average rates of from 5 to 7 1/2 in. (12.5–19 cm.) per 1,000 years for periods of 4,000 to 5,500 years at a distance of 18 miles (29 km.) south of the vent. The evidence also suggests a decrease in the overall rate of ash deposition with time. The ...

The Classification of Lowland Swamp Communities in Northeastern Papua

EcologyVolume 40, Issue 4 p. 703-711 Article The Classification of Lowland Swamp Communities in Northeastern Papua B. W. Taylor, B. W. TaylorSearch for more papers by this author B. W. Taylor, B. W. TaylorSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 October 1959 https://doi.org/10.2307/1929822Citations: 8AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume40, Issue4October 1959Pages 703-711 RelatedInformation