Kuk Swamp

Philip Hughes, Tim Denham, Jack Golson

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

    Abstract

    Kuk 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).
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationTen Thousand Years of Cultivation at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea (Terra Australis 46)
    Editors J. Golson, T. Denham, P. Hughes, P. Swadling and J. Muke
    Place of PublicationCanberra
    PublisherANU Press
    Pages87-116
    Edition1
    ISBN (Print)9781760461157
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Kuk Swamp'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this