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The Wahgi ValleyKuk Swamp lies at around 1580 m altitude in the upper Wahgi Valley, a large intermontane basin between the Sepik-Wahgi Divide to the north and the Kubor Range to the south, both of which rise to 4000 m or more above sea level.Today the basin is largely drained by the east-flowing Wahgi River, but formerly the western part drained westwards.This drainage was reversed with the damming of the valley by a massive volcanic debris avalanche from the Mt Hagen stratovolcano, which today dominates the western end of the basin, rising about 2000 m above the surrounding landscape (Löffler 1977: 26-27, 73; Pain et al. 1987).The avalanche responsible for this blockage occurred at least 80-100,000 and possibly 400,000 years ago (Pain et al. 1987: 275).
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