Papua New Guinea: Geography#
Location | Oceania, group of islands including the eastern half of the island of New Guinea between the Coral Sea and the South Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia |
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Geographic Coordinates | 6 00 S, 147 00 E -6.0,147.0 |
Area | total: 462,840 sq km land: 452,860 sq km water: 9,980 sq km [Verified in 8 databases] |
Land boundaries | total: 820 km border countries: Indonesia 820 km |
Coastline | 5,152 km |
Elevation Extremes | lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: Mount Wilhelm 4,509 m |
Highest Mountains | Mount Wilhelm 4509 m; Mount Giluwe 4367 m; Mount Bangeta 4121 m; Mount Victoria 4038 m; Mount Albert Edward 3990 m [Verified] Attempted Explanation: Please help us to try to explain the discrepancies by sending us helpful information to office nospam@TUGraz.at @global-geography.org Important Mountains |
Terrain | mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills |
Natural Hazards | active volcanism; situated along the Pacific "Ring of Fire"; the country is subject to frequent and sometimes severe earthquakes; mud slides; tsunamis volcanism: severe volcanic activity; Ulawun (elev. 2,334 m), one of Papua New Guinea's potentially most dangerous volcanoes, has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; Rabaul (elev. 688 m) destroyed the city of Rabaul in 1937 and 1994; Lamington erupted in 1951 killing 3,000 people; Manam's 2004 eruption forced the island's abandonment; other historically active volcanoes include Bam, Bagana, Garbuna, Karkar, Langila, Lolobau, Long Island, Pago, St. Andrew Strait, Victory, and Waiowa |
Natural Resource | gold, copper, silver, natural gas, timber, oil, fisheries |
Land Use | arable land: 0.65% permanent crops: 1.51% other: 97.84% (2011) |
Climate | tropical; northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation |
Irrigated Land | 0 sq km (2003) |
Renewable Water Resources | 801 cu km (2011) |
Environment_CurrentIssues | rain forest subject to deforestation as a result of growing commercial demand for tropical timber; pollution from mining projects; severe drought |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Large Cities | Port Moresby; Lae; Arawa; Mount Hagen; Popondetta [Verified] Important Cities |
Geography-note | shares island of New Guinea with Indonesia; one of world's largest swamps along southwest coast Important Lakes |