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The seismic zone of the Papuan Fold Belt

Created 17/10/2025

Updated 17/10/2025

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Improved regional seismograph coverage in the 1970s has enhanced the resolution of the seismicity of the southern highlands of Papua New Guinea. Two zones can be defined. The Southern Highlands Seismic Zone follows the Papuan Fold Belt and extends from Kerema on the Gulf of Papua through the Star Mountains region into Irian Jaya. A second zone, the Mount Hagen Seismic Zone, plunges to the north-northeast from the Southern Highlands Seismic Zone south of Mount Hagen to intersect the intermediate-depth seismicity beneath the Ramu-Markham Valley. The southern highlands earthquakes reflect continuing Pliocene-Quaternary thrust faulting in the crust of the Indo-Australian Plate , brought about by the collision of the Indo-Australian and South Bismarck Plates over the sinking Solomon Sea Plate. Relief of compressive stress is through fracturing of the continental plate margin. The zone of fracture is now manifest in the Papuan Fold Belt. Seismic risk in the Southern Highlands Seismic Zone is less than that of the north coast, New Britain, and Bougainville, but is still high. The once-a-year largest earthquake is of magnitude 4.7, the ten-year earthquake magnitude 6.2, and the 30-year earthquake magnitude 6.9, which compare with the Californian figures of 5.7, 6.9, and 7.4, respectively. Large earthquakes are expected to occur along the zone in the future and their effects could be severe.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title The seismic zone of the Papuan Fold Belt
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/en/dataset/89c060b4-f67d-4b53-8f09-70c19cfa0f86
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        137.94,
        -9.81
      ],
      [
        147.12,
        -9.81
      ],
      [
        147.12,
        -2.63
      ],
      [
        137.94,
        -2.63
      ],
      [
        137.94,
        -9.81
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "The seismic zone of the Papuan Fold Belt". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/the-seismic-zone-of-the-papuan-fold-belt