Finisterre Range

P1f1p5

The Finisterre Mountains, known in the English speaking Finisterre Range, is running in a north- and a Südkette coastal mountain range in the north-east of Papua New Guinea in the densely populated Morobe Province.

The name Finisterre Mountains goes back to the French general Jules Dumont d' Urville, which was sailing off the coast in 1827 and also the Bay Astrolabe Bay gave her name. In 1889, the German journalist and explorer Hugo Zöller reached the crest of the mountain range. The first crossing of the mountain range succeed in 1907 the Austrian Wilhelm C. Dammköhler together with O. Fröhlich, who marched through the Markham Valley to Astrolabe Bay from today Lae.

The unnamed, highest peak of the mountain ridge is located at 5 ° 48 ' S, 146 ° 6' O 5.8146.14175. Its height is usually given with 4175 m, but the SRTM data suggest rather to a height of about 4,120 m. In the ranking of the mountains to Vertical separation he is thus the world's # 45 In Papua New Guinea it is after Mount Wilhelm (German: Wilhelm Berg ) is the second highest mountain.

In addition, the Disraeliberg (also: Schopenhauer Mountain ) with a height of 3,350 m and the Gladstone Mountain (also: Kant Mountain ) with a height of 3,175 m more striking mountain peaks.

The wild zerschluchtete mountain range rises in the east over the Saruwaged Range and forms with her a natural barrier between the valleys of the rivers Ramu and Markham in the south to the Maclayküste and Vitiaz Street in the north. The Ramu itself is also one of the many rivers that originate in the Finisterre Mountains. In addition, the Yupno flows through the mountains, after the group of living here Yupno names. Large parts of the mountains are covered by the rainforest.

During the Second World War some heavy fighting between Australian troops and the associations of the Japanese Empire took place in the years 1943 and 1944 as part of the Finistere Range Campaign on the hills of Finisterre took place, including the battles on Shaggy Ridge.

In the Finisterre Mountains the following rock types have been found, according to the German colonial lexicon:

  • Older and younger igneous rocks
  • Winding road
  • Slate
  • Limestones
  • Tuffs
  • Conglomerates
Australian Defence Force Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon List of rock types Serpentinite
335025
de