Abstract
The Purari Delta is one of a number of large deltaic complexes which border the Gulf of Papua. Along with the Fly, the Kikori and many other rivers, the Purari drains the western and central highland region of Papua New Guinea (Fig. 1). Upper sections of these rivers are located in highly mountainous terrain (to 4510 m, Mt. Wilhelm) with steeply descending valleys debouching onto a deltaic plain 30 to 50 km wide. Average annual rainfalls ranging from 2000 mm to 8500 mm in the catchment of the Purari result in a mean annual discharge at Wabo of about 2360 m3/sec, carrying 88.6 million m3/year of sediment into the delta (Pickup 1980; this volume). These inputs provide the material for a major deltaic complex of global significance.
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© 1983 Dr W. Junk Publishers, The Hague
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Thom, B.G., Wright, L.D. (1983). Geomorphology of the Purari Delta. In: Petr, T. (eds) The Purari — tropical environment of a high rainfall river basin. Monographiae Biologicae, vol 51. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7263-6_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7263-6_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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