Year: 2017
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: The Wahgi ValleyKuk Swamp lies at around 1580 m altitude in the upper Wahgi Valley, a large intermontane basin between the Sepik-Wahgi Divide to the north and the Kubor Range to the south, both of which rise to 4000 m or more above sea level.Today the basin is largely drained by the east-flowing Wahgi River, but formerly the western part drained westwards.This drainage was reversed with the damming of the valley by a massive volcanic debris avalanche from the Mt Hagen stratovolcano, which today dominates the western end of the basin, rising about 2000 m above the surrounding landscape (Löffler 1977: 26-27, 73; Pain et al. 1987).The avalanche responsible for this blockage occurred at least 80-100,000 and possibly 400,000 years ago (Pain et al. 1987: 275).
Source: ANU Press eBooks
Authors: Philip Hughes, Tim Denham, Jack Golson
Language: English
Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: Australian National University
OpenAlex ID: W4230748865