The Ramu River is a major river in northern Papua New Guinea . The headwaters of the river are formed in the Kratke Range from where it then travels about 640 km (398 mi) northwest to the Bismarck Sea .
20-611: Along the Ramu's course, it receives numerous tributaries from the Bismarck Range to the south and the Finisterre and Adelbert . For many millennia, people have lived along the river, and the river has formed the basis for food, transport, and culture. The area encompassed by the Ramu was part of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland when Germany established German New Guinea in 1884. The Germans were quick to explore their territory, and
40-538: Is Mount Wilhelm at 4,509 metres (14,793 ft). At over 3,400 metres (11,155 ft), the landscape is alpine with tundra , in spite of the tropical climate. The Ramu River has its source in the range. The Bismarck Forest Corridor, which bridges the provinces of Chimbu , Eastern Highlands , Jiwaka , and Madang , is located on the Bismarck Range. This corridor is an intact montane forest composed of Papua New Guinea oak and beech forest . The forest
60-495: Is a critical habitat for endangered species such as the Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo , giant rats, and many species of birds of paradise. This Papua New Guinea –related geography article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt
80-604: Is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arisen from the same cause, usually an orogeny . Mountain ranges are formed by a variety of geological processes, but most of the significant ones on Earth are the result of plate tectonics . Mountain ranges are also found on many planetary mass objects in the Solar System and are likely a feature of most terrestrial planets . Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys . Individual mountains within
100-538: Is at work while the mountains are being uplifted until the mountains are reduced to low hills and plains. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example. As the uplift was occurring some 10,000 feet (3,000 m) of mostly Mesozoic sedimentary strata were removed by erosion over the core of the mountain range and spread as sand and clays across the Great Plains to
120-865: The Alpide belt . The Pacific Ring of Fire includes the Andes of South America, extends through the North American Cordillera , the Aleutian Range , on through Kamchatka Peninsula , Japan , Taiwan , the Philippines , Papua New Guinea , to New Zealand . The Andes is 7,000 kilometres (4,350 mi) long and is often considered the world's longest mountain system. The Alpide belt stretches 15,000 km across southern Eurasia , from Java in Maritime Southeast Asia to
140-551: The Annamite Range . If the definition of a mountain range is stretched to include underwater mountains, then the Ocean Ridge forms the longest continuous mountain system on Earth, with a length of 65,000 kilometres (40,400 mi). The position of mountain ranges influences climate, such as rain or snow. When air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools, producing orographic precipitation (rain or snow). As
160-523: The First World War , German New Guinea passed over to Australian control and became the Territory of New Guinea . The Ramu reverted to its local name during this time. In 1936, Briton , Lord Moyne , ventured up the Ramu during an expedition to Indonesia and New Guinea. Moyne discovered a race of pygmy -like people inhabiting the middle Ramu region 170 miles (270 km) from the mouth of
180-804: The Iberian Peninsula in Western Europe , including the ranges of the Himalayas , Karakoram , Hindu Kush , Alborz , Caucasus , and the Alps . The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest , which is 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) high. Mountain ranges outside these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera , Appalachians , Great Dividing Range , East Siberians , Altais , Scandinavians , Qinling , Western Ghats , Vindhyas , Byrrangas , and
200-668: The Ramu 1 power station. A hydroelectric plant was under construction on the toe of the Yonki Dam, however, construction is currently (May 2011) suspended. Bismarck Range The Bismarck Range is a mountain range in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea . The range is named after the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck . The highest point of the range and the country
220-583: The Germans. In 1902, Hans Klink and J. Schlenzig established a new Ramu station that was later connected by a bridle track to the coast. Dr R. Schlecter led another expedition in 1902 in search of gutta-percha trees. Then in 1907, Austrian explorer Wilhelm Dammköhler led an expedition up the Markham Valley and linked the headwaters of the Markham River with the Ramu for the first time. After
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#1732794023913240-546: The Ramu, Tappenbeck left his companions at a well-stocked camp when river water levels fell. He returned four and half months later in another steamer, Herzogin Elisabeth , and the party managed to navigate 190 mi (310 km) upstream and go farther still by canoe. By the end of 1898, the expedition had established a station on the river, mapped it and tributaries, and made a large botanical collection. Further explorations for gold and botanical specimens were conducted by
260-627: The air descends on the leeward side, it warms again (following the adiabatic lapse rate ) and is drier, having been stripped of much of its moisture. Often, a rain shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. As a consequence, large mountain ranges, such as the Andes, compartmentalize continents into distinct climate regions . Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to erosional forces which work to tear them down. The basins adjacent to an eroding mountain range are then filled with sediments that are buried and turned into sedimentary rock . Erosion
280-485: The east. This mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift. The removal of such a mass from the core of the range most likely caused further uplift as the region adjusted isostatically in response to the removed weight. Rivers are traditionally believed to be the principal cause of mountain range erosion, by cutting into bedrock and transporting sediment. Computer simulation has shown that as mountain belts change from tectonically active to inactive,
300-528: The first expedition to ascend the Ramu in 1898. Tappenbeck was charged with discovering whether the Ottilien found in 1886 was the same river Lauterbech had found. He was accompanied by former Prussian Army officers, a Kompagnie official and an Australian gold prospector Robert Phillip, and travelled in the Neu Guinea Kompagnie steamer Herzog Johann Albrecht . After five days of journey up
320-602: The headwaters of the Markham River . After crossing the Ortzen Mountains from Astrolabe Bay south of Madang , Lauterbach's party, instead of finding the Markham, found an unknown river flowing northwest. The party canoed along a section before their supplies dwindled; they returned to the coast retracing their route. Another German explorer, Ernst Tappenbeck , who had accompanied Lauterbach previously, led
340-570: The mouth of the Ramu was discovered in 1886 by Vice-Admiral Freiherr von Schleinitz after returning to Finschhafen from an expedition to the nearby Sepik . Schleinitz called the Ramu, Ottilien after his ship the Ottilie . The course of the river was first discovered 10 years later in 1896 after Dr Carl Lauterbach , a botanist , led an expedition organised by the German New Guinea Company ( Neu Guinea Kompagnie ) to find
360-627: The rate of erosion drops because there are fewer abrasive particles in the water and fewer landslides. Mountains on other planets and natural satellites of the Solar System, including the Moon , are often isolated and formed mainly by processes such as impacts, though there are examples of mountain ranges (or "Montes") somewhat similar to those on Earth. Saturn 's moon Titan and Pluto , in particular, exhibit large mountain ranges in chains composed mainly of ices rather than rock. Examples include
380-929: The river in the Aiome foothills. During the Second World War in 1942, the Japanese annexed the entire Territory of New Guinea from the Australians. Intense fighting occurred between the Imperial Japanese Army and the Australian and US Armies to recapture New Guinea. During the Finisterre Range campaign in 1943 and 1944, the Ramu Valley became the scene of a major battle. The Ramu flows into Yonki Dam , where it feeds
400-531: The same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology . They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes , for example thrust sheets , uplifted blocks , fold mountains, and volcanic landforms resulting in a variety of rock types . Most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earth's land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or
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