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Summary of the Geology, Geomorphology, Climate and Vegetation O:R: the Sep:I.K and Ramu River Catchments with Notes on Their Relevance to Fisheries

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Summary of the Geology, Geomorphology, Climate and Vegetation O:R: the Sep:I.K and Ramu River Catchments with Notes on Their Relevance to Fisheries PNG/85/001. Field Document Number 2 March, 1989 PAPUA NEW GUINBA Summary of the geology, geomorphology, climate and vegetation o:r: the Sep:i.k and Ramu River catchments with notes on their relevance to fisheries A report prepared for project PNG/85/001: Sepik River Fish Stock Enhancement Project Compiled by D. C0.2\'l'ES (Chief Technical Adviser) FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 1.989 Th~s report was prepa~ed during the course of the project identified on the title page. The conclusions and recommendations given in the report are those considered appropriate at the time of its preparation. They may be modified in the light of further knowledge gained at subsequent stages of the project. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on ~he part of the United Nations or the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations concerning the legal or constitutional status of any country, territory or sea area, or concerning the delimitation of frontiers. TABLE OF CONTENTS page 1. INTRODUCTION. • . • . • • • . • . 1 2 . GEOLOGY. • . • . • • • • . 1 3. ALTITUDINAL ZONES. • . • . • . 4 4. CLIMATE. • . 5 5 . VEGETATION. • . • . 7 6. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ........................ 10 7 . REFERENCES . • . • . 16 FIGURES. • . • 18 TABLES. • . • • • • . 3 6 1 1. INTRODUCTION This document provides background information for project PNG/85/001. A synthesis of knowledge of various aspects of the Sepik and Ramu River catchments is provided. The information is presented in relation to project objectives and activities. Most sections have been summarised from existing books and other information (quoted where relevant) but have been placed within the context of the Sepik and Ramu rivers and project PNG/85/001. The subjects covered here are relevant to fisheries related matters and this is explained later in the Discussion section. This document covers the whole Sepik and Ramu river catchments from Om to the highest peak 4509 m.a.s.l. 2. GEOLOGY The general geomorphology of Papua New Guinea has been summarised by Loffler (1977). New Guinea and its associated smaller islands are situated between and are part of two major crustal elements, the continental, relatively stable land mass of Australia to the south and the deep ocean basin of the Pacific. to the north (Fig. 1). According to plate tectonics concepts, the New Guinea area has lain in the zone of interaction between the northward moving Australian continental plate and the westward moving Pacific plate since about Cretaceous times. As the Australian plate is moving north and the Pacific plate moving west the area is structurally complex. Extreme forces involved with such plate movements have resulted in upthrusting along approximately the centre of the present island forming what is referred to as the "Central cordillera" forming the PNG "Highlands". The major structural regions are shown in Fig. 2. The Sepik-Markham depression essentially delimits the lowlands of the Sepik and Ramu River catchments. This depression extends through the entire island from Geelvink Bay in Irian Jaya to the Huon Gulf in Papua New Guinea. The depression, also known as the central intermontane trough, has been a zone of relative subsidence since the later Tertiary and its margins are locally marked by steep fault scarps. The trough is now filled with terrestrial elastic sediments forming extensive alluvial plains and fans. Draining into this depression, however, are rivers arising from the New Guinea Mobile Belt (the "Highlands"). the Toricelli-Bewani Ranges and the Finisterre-New Ireland Arc (in this region referred to as the Finisterre Ranges) (see Fig. 2). Together, the 2 latter two regions constitute the ''Northern Coastal Range". The New Guinea Mobile Belt consists mainly of low grade metamorphic rocks and acid to basic and ultrabasic plutons, most of which have been intruded along major fault planes by encroaching alluvial deposition from the Sepik-Markham depression at lower altitudes. The Torricelli-Bewani Ranges consist of granitic and metamorphic basement which is exposed in the central part of the unit, flanked by a succession of sediments, predominantly sandstone and siltstone, which become progressively younger towards the outer zones of the mountains. The Finisterre Range (part of the Finisterre-New Britain Volcanic Arc - "10a'' in Fig. 2) is older and comprised of Eocene basic to intermediate volcanic rocks and associated intrusives overlain by middle to upper Miocene limestone. The eastern section of the Sepik-Ramu depression (= intermontane trough) forms the Markham-Ramu trough which is a narrow graben zone occupied by a series of low-angle coalescing alluvial fans. These fans are formed of coarse debris derived from the tectonically very active Finisterre and Saruwaged Ranges which rise steeply along a series of faults along the north-eastern margin of the trough. The rivers have gradients similar to the fans (1 to 3 %) and flow in highly unstable wide braided floodplains with constantly shifting sand bars and channels. In their lower courses the present floodplain and the older fan surfaces merge and form a continuous plain. Westwards, the narrow Markham-Ramu trough opens into the much more extensive sepik depression, which is predominantly formed of vast swamps, meandering floodplains, and a series of low-angle variably dissected fans along the northern flanks of the depression. Structurally, the Sepik depression differs considerably from the Markham-Ramu graben as it is generally not fault-bounded but constitutes a large basin, the remnant of the Northern New Guinea Basin which during the Pliocene extended from the central ranges to the present north coast. The area south of the meander belt of the Sepik River is formed by a series of nearly continuous swamps which extend right up to the foot of the abruptly rising central ranges. The valleys draining into this region have characteristics of drowned valleys with the swampy alluvium extending into the mountain front. A great number of valleys also seem to have been cut beneath the present base level of erosion. This drowning could have been the result of either the post-glacial rise in sea level or subsidence or both. North of the Sepik River, swamps are markedly rare or absent. Instead, variably dissected low­ angle fans cover much of the area between river and mountain front, indicating that this has been an area of uplift rather than subsidence. 3 The geology of the Sepik and Ramu catchments is extremely complex and a simplified generalised geology is shown in Fig. 3. Adjacent sub-catchments can, however, have quite different surface rock types arising from various processes of weathering, glaciation, uplifting, faulting, deposition and lateral shifting of structural elements. In addition to the central cordillera, the northern ranges (primarily the Toricelli-Bewani and Finisterre mountains) have also been areas of considerable uplifting. Such areas are still rising. Many stream beds along higher altitudes in such ranges (protected from overlaying alluvial deposition) are composed of intact corals indicating their recent marine origin. North of the island is the deep Pacific basin which accounts for the deep waters immediately off the mouths of the Sepik and Ramu rivers. This is thought to account for easier discharge of water from these rivers and their single exits to the sea. In contrast, rivers in southern New Guinea drain onto shallow and extensive continental shelf. They have very extensive estuarine areas and deltaic systems. This, in addition to the continual coastal uplifting, is thought to explain the relative lack of extensive areas of mangroves along the northern coast. 2.1 Geological history The present land mass of Papua New Guinea evolved as the result of a series of complex events which are all basically linked with the relative movements of the two interacting plates. The present land mass started to develop in the lower Miocene with the emergence of the New Guinea mobile belt (the present Highlands), which has remained land ever since and has been subject to intense erosion. However, it was not until the upper Pliocene, which is only a few million years ago, that the framework of the present landscape became visible with the emergence of the Torricelli-Bewani Mountains to the north. Raised coral platforms ranging in age from Pleistocene to Recent give evidence of continuing uplift in these areas, with maximum rates in the order of 3 mm per year, which is a quite spectacular rate in geological terms. The reason for recent rapid uplifting along the northern coast is the shift of interaction between the two plates from the New Guinea mobile belt to the Toricelli-Bewani ranges and the island arcs where most active volcanoes now occur. Of particular note during recent geological events is the formation of the Sepik-Ramu floodplains. The whole of the lower altitudes on the Sepik-Ramu depression was 4 originally occupied by an inland sea up until only 6,000 years ago (Fig. 4). Subsidence by the trough, accompanied by rapid uplifting along the northern coast and recent rises in sea level allowed the basin to fill with alluvium from the high sediment load rivers draining the recently formed, weather-beaten and highly unstable surrounding mountains. During this process the area developed from a deep inland sea to its present form of extensive, shallow alluvial floodplains. Fossil finds from the early Pleistocene (Ice­ age) indicate that the "Sepik-Ramu Sea" was at least 200 m deep (Swadling et al. 1989). As this sea became shallower, it began to become freshwater and a habitat for colonising freshwater fish and shellfish. This is witnessed by more recent archeological finds in sediments from recent times (<3,000 years ago) (Swadling et al. 1989). During the more recent Ice Ages the sea level rose and fell and the shore­ line changed accordingly.
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