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Mode of emplacement of the Papuan Ultramafic Belt: reply

Created 16/10/2025

Updated 16/10/2025

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Rods criticisms of my paper can be summarised as (1) I have not come up with any revolutionary new mechanism for the emplacement of the Belt; (2) the position of the Moho in my gravity sections is not clear; and (3) the overthrusting hypothesis does not explain either the steep dips along much of the Owen Stanley Fault system or the fact that parts of it are strike-slip in character. The last criticism is by far the most significant; the character of the Owen Stanley Fault being one of the reasons for my modification of the original Thompson-Davies theory, and I suspect the main impetus behind Rods theory of emplacement. I stated in the introduction to my paper that I have adopted the overthrusting mechanism of emplacement. I make no apology for not coming up with a revolutionary new mechanism as I think the thrusting mechanism is by far the most likely. Possible methods of emplacement which I can conceive are (1) intrusion of a large body of basaltic lava high in the crust and its subsequent differentiation to produce the observed layering; (2) uplift by isostatic or some other vertically acting force; (3) thrusting in a horizontally compressive regime. The intrusive mechanism has been ruled out by Davies (1971) on chemical and other evidence. The isostatic uplift mechanism seems unlikely in view of the very high density of the rocks forming the Belt itself and also the probable high density of the Owen Stanley metamorphics. This leaves the horizontal compression mechanism of emplacement.

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Field Value
Title Mode of emplacement of the Papuan Ultramafic Belt: reply
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/ab1537ae-f626-4a5e-8aa4-8a8abaf5cf75
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
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      ],
      [
        156.0,
        -12.0
      ],
      [
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      ],
      [
        140.8,
        0.0
      ],
      [
        140.8,
        -12.0
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Mode of emplacement of the Papuan Ultramafic Belt: reply". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/mode-of-emplacement-of-the-papuan-ultramafic-belt-reply