Post-Jurassic tectonic evolution of Papua New Guinea

Synthesis of available geologic and geophysical data for Papua New Guinea yields a series of kinematically constrained tectonic reconstructions. These reconstructions document the post-Jurassic evolution of the northern margin of the Australian plate from a rifted, passive continental margin to one composed of accreted, tectonostratigraphic terranes undergoing sinistral oblique transpression. The allochthonous terranes represent marginal basins and fringing island arcs which began docking to the Australian plate in the Miocene. At present, assemblage forms a diffuse suture zone between the Australian and Pacific plates, structurally responding in a complex fashion to the regional oblique compression.