The Mamberamo Lakes Plains (Dutch Meervlakte, Malay ''dataran danau-danau'') are a large, flat low-lying area of the

Mamberamo River The Mamberamo (''Indonesian: Sungai Mamberamo'') is the second longest river on the island of New Guinea, after Sepik River (1,146 km) and third largest in Oceania by discharge (5,500 m3/s) volume after Fly River (7,500 m3/s) and Sepik (7,000 m3/ ...

basin in the Indonesian province Papua on the island of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. The plain is defined by the meandering tributaries of the Mamberamo, and includes hundreds of

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

s. It is 300 kilometers long and about 50 kilometers wide, and is entirely enclosed by mountains apart from the outlet of the Mameramo.Ronald G. Petocz (1989) ''Conservation and Development in Irian Jaya'', p. 8 It is inhabited in the west, but the eastern lobe is largely uninhabited.

Biology

Biologically, the plains are covered by tropical lowland jungle. Much of that is ''

Adina ADINA is a commercial engineering simulation software program that is developed and distributed worldwide by ADINA R & D, Inc. The company was founded in 1986 by Dr. Klaus-Jürgen Bathe, and is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, United St ...

'' and '' Barringtonia spicata'' (see '' Barringtonia'')

swamp forest Freshwater swamp forests, or flooded forests, are forests which are inundated with freshwater, either permanently or seasonally. They normally occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes. Freshwater swamp forests are found ...

, large areas of sago palm, and

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

vegetation with ''

Echinochloa stagnina ''Echinochloa stagnina'' (Burgu millet, bourgou, hippo grass) is a species of ''Echinochloa'' widespread in tropical Africa and Asia, with an invasive status in many Pacific islands. It was once one of the major grasses cultivated in the Inner N ...

''. During the rainy season, large parts of the remaining forest is flooded for months at a time. These areas are populated with ''

Timonius ''Timonius'' is a genus of plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is the second most specious genus in the family in Papua New Guinea, containing about 80 species known to science,Bryan, J.E., Shearman, P.L. (Eds.). 2015. The State of the Forests of ...

'', ''

Dillenia ''Dillenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Dilleniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of southern Asia, Australasia, and the Indian Ocean islands. The genus is named after the German botanist Johann Jacob Dillenius, ...

'' or '' Nauclea''.World Wide Fund for Nature (1994) ''Centres of Plant Diversity: Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific'', p. 413

Hydrology

South of the Lakes Plains lies the Central Dividing Range, the highest part of the western New Guinea Highlands, which drains into the basin. The basin is bisected by two major rivers, the Tariku, which originates in the

Jayawijaya Mountains The Jayawijaya Mountains, formerly known as the Orange Range, are the eastern mountain range of the Maoke Mountains in the central highlands region of the Indonesian part of New Guinea. The range extends for east of the Sudirman Range to the Star M ...

to the west and flows eastwards, and the Taritatu, which rises in the east, not far from the PNG border, and flows westwards. The major tributary of the Taritatu to the south, the

Sobger River The Sobger River is a river in northern New Guinea, province of Papua, Indonesia. It is a tributary of the Taritatu River, The total length is 188.861 km. which it forms by merging with the Nawa River. Geography The river flows in the north ...

, originating in the

Maoke Mountains The Maoke Mountains is a mountain range in the province of Central Papua and Highland Papua. It extends over 692 km and is composed of the Sudirman and Jayawijaya ranges. It is part of the larger New Guinea Highlands or Central Cordillera. ...

, while to the north the Songgolo and

Pauwasi River Pauwasi may refer to: *Pauwasi languages * East Pauwasi languages *West Pauwasi languages The West Pauwasi languages are a likely family of Papuan languages spoken on the Indonesian side of New Guinea. They may either form part of a larger Pauw ...

s join to form its other major tributary. In the middle of the Lakes Plains, the two rivers meet and merge to form the Mamberamo, one of the largest rivers of New Guinea. The Mamberamo flows out through a gorge between the

Van Rees Mountains A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across ...

to its west and the

Foja Mountains The Foja Mountains (Foja Range, Foya Mountains) ( id, Pegunungan Foja) are located just north of the Mamberamo river basin in Papua, Indonesia. The mountains rise to , and have 3,000 square kilometers of old growth tropical rainforest in the inte ...

to its east.

References

{{Reflist Valleys of Indonesia Geography of New Guinea

Biology

Hydrology

See also

References